TMNT Half Shell Heroes: The Great Valley Adventure
by Calmoose415
Summary: The Turtles and their dino friends are back in an all new adventure! The group is happy to have found the Great Valley, and are enjoying their lives there. But as they are enjoying their stay, a minor threat from two egg-stealers will prompt them into saving a new and unexpected friend.
1. A Peaceful Life

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Land Before Time**

**The Former belongs to Nickelodeon and the Latter belongs to Universal Studios**

Chapter 1: A Peaceful Life

The sun had risen over the horizon a few hours ago and was now much higher in the sky that morning in the Great Valley, it's gentle rays lighting up the open fields and forests with it's brilliance. The field itself was mostly quiet, the only resonances being the sounds of water rushing from a small stream into a small pond and the rustling trees that swayed delicately in the gentle wind.

However, this serenity did not last very long as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prepared to face each other in combat.

Raphael was in the grass on all fours in front of Donatello, who did the same as they glared into each other's eyes, neither turtle making a sound or any move to one another.

Beside them, Leonardo and Michelangelo did the same, until the two finally stood up and drew their weapons.

Michelangelo glared at Leonardo, his two nunchaku gripped firmly in his hands, his face uncharacteristically flat and empty of emotion. Leonardo glared right back at him, his single katana blade held steadfastly in front of him in a defensive stance.

A small drop of water dripped from a low hanging leaf.

No one moved or spoke.

The drop hit the grass.

Leonardo let out a battle cry as he charged for Michelangelo.

"Oh, yeah!" Mikey cried as he charged for Leo. "Michelangelo's on the move!"

Leo swung his katana at him, but Mikey was quick to dodge as he jumped over his older brother with a high back flip, landing expertly on his feet behind the blue clad turtle. Leo spun around and glared at his adversary, who spun his nunchaku around him in a smug fashion, complete with a mocking grin. "You don't know what to do!" Mikey teased.

Leo charged for him again, only for Mikey easily elude his swings and roll across the grass. "I'm here! I'm there! I could be anywhere!" Mikey quipped before evading yet another blow from his older brother's sword.

Despite himself, Leo couldn't fight back a smile at his baby brother's enthusiasm to train again.

"How do you stop what you can't even see?!" Mikey taunted as he then charged for Leo, twirling his nunchucks over his head as he prepared to strike.

However, Leo switched his blade over and used the handle to jab it directly into Mikey's stomach.

Mikey immediately dropped his weapons and doubled over, rolling in the dirt before coming to his knees, clutching his belly in agony before gaging and crumpling to the ground.

"Like that?" Leo asked with a smile as he looked down at his defeated brother.

"..good one, Leo.." Mikey gasped as he held up a twitching finger.

Meanwhile, Donatello spun his bo-staff proficiently from left to right before pointing it threateningly at Raphael, who glared back him, unaffected by the hostile move.

"Alright, Donnie," Raphael said dauntingly as he cracked his neck from side to side, "put down the staff, and no one gets hurt."

"Uh, you said that last time, Raph, and then you hurt me." Donnie stated 'as-a-matter-of-factly'.

"Yeah..but, less than I would have." Raph replied nonchalantly.

Donnie merely scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Without warning, Donatello launched himself at Raph, bringing his bo-staff down on his head, but Raph quickly rolled out of the way before it struck it's target. He then swiftly leapt out of the way as Donnie made another move to strike his foot. Donnie spun his staff before jabbing it at Raph's face, which he dodged just in time once again.

Donnie swung his staff several more times at Raph, but he easily dodged all of them. Donnie spun his staff over his head and attempted to bring it down hard on Raph's head again, only to have it suddenly swiped from his grip. He looked at Raph with a disbelieving gasp as Raph leaned on the stolen staff.

Raph grinned at Donnie smugly as he spun the staff before bringing it down hard on his knee, snapping the wooden weapon in half.

Donnie blinked. "...should've dropped the staff?"

Raph grinned evilly. "Should have dropped the staff."

Raph charged at Donnie, who attempted to escape his brother's oncoming punishment. Unfortunately, the purple clad turtle was too slow and became victim to being repeatedly hit on his shell with his own broken staff as he hunched low onto the ground and shielded his head as he cried out, "Okay, okay, OW, I'm down, _I'M DOWN!_"

Raphael stopped his barrage of strikes as he spun around to face his new opponent as he threw the broken staff to the grass. Leonardo stood before him, his sword drawn and ready.

Donnie walked to the side of the battle field and sat down on his knees next to Mikey on the grass. Mikey stuck his tongue out at his brother, who pouted in response.

Leo kneeled in front of Raph, his weapon still drawn as Raph followed suit.

"_Onegaishimasu._" Leo said in a challenging tone.

"Whatever you say." Raph replied smugly.

Leo swung his blade out in front of him, the tip aiming dangerously at his opponent. Raph unsheathed his sais and spun them in his hands. Leonardo charged at Raphael, but Raph brought his sais up to shield himself from his brother's attack.

The two engaged in a heated battle with swift, sharp, and precise movements from both turtles, both only narrowly missing their marks. The two turtles charged at each other, throwing kicks, punches and rolling out of the way of various attacks.

Leonardo managed to swiftly disarm Raphael as he used the handle to jab at one hand, causing Raph's grip on one of his sais to slip as it sailed through the air, landing in-between Michelangelo and Donatello, who remained motionless during the battle as they continued to watch.

The two turtles stood facing each other, readying their weapons before they charged at each other with mighty yells. Raphael managed to knock the katana out of Leo's hand and in one swift motion, hooked the fork handle of his sai onto Leo's wrist, twisted it and hauled him over his shoulder, flipping him into the air and landing on his shell hard in the grass.

Leo groaned as he held his right shoulder in pain. Raph towered over his fallen form and looked down at him smugly. "Nice try!" He mocked.

Raph then held out his hand and offered it to Leo with a smile. Leo smiled back and took the offered hand Raph pulled him to his feet.

Meanwhile, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike all clapped and cheered as they had watched the whole sparring match.

It had been over a week since the group had arrived in the Great Valley, and so far, it had been paradise for them. Beautiful sights, plenty of food, mostly sunny days, and lots of games to play. And the repairs for the Shell-former were going pretty smoothly. Overall, so far so good.

Although when the Turtles first arrived in the Great Valley, many residents were of course skeptical about them at first, which was understandable. After holding a small meeting, they allowed the Turtles to stay in the Great Valley. The Turtles themselves had earned a bit of a reputation during their short time in the Great Valley, being called the mysterious shell-backs, which at first glance sounded ridiculous, but they had been called worse.

Other than that, life in the Great Valley had been rather peaceful, the Turtles were enjoying their stay in their temporary Shell-former home, which had just about everything they needed. Some spare parts, a tool kit, some beds, a kitchen, a small laboratory, and best of all, a tv.

Ever since they had arrived in the Great Valley, their bonds of friendship had been growing much stronger. Leo and Littlefoot seemed to form a bit of a bond as they came to have mutual respect and admiration for each other. Raph and Cera, while still having their fair share of heated arguments, had formed a strong somewhat violent friendship as they would often be seen playfully wrestling with each other out in the fields. Donnie and Petrie also formed a bit of bond as they were often seen talking together about many different subjects while Donnie repaired the Shell-former. Mikey, Ducky, and Spike had all formed a very close friendship triangle as they would usually be seen playing with each other in the ponds for most of the day.

And since they had been staying in the valley, the kids would often come to play games with the Turtles or watch them spare.

"That was awesome!" Littlefoot exclaimed as he and his friends walked up to the Turtles.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Cera said in admiration.

"Well thanks, guys." Leo replied as he brushed some dirt off him. "Just good to see none of us have really gotten rusty."

"Yeah, says that after I kicked his butt." Raph remarked to his older brother, who pouted in response as the kids snickered a bit.

Mikey's stomach suddenly began to grumble. "Whew, training gets me so hungry." Mikey said before he smiled to himself. "Mm, need pizza."

"Littlefoot!" A voice called, getting the group's attention. "Littlefoot! It's time to come home!"

"That's Grandpa." Littlefoot said. "I'll see you guys later!"

As the others left however, Littlefoot then walked up to the Turtles. "You guys want to come with me?"

"Sure." Donnie answered kindly.

"Yeah, I mean, we've got nothing better to do right now." Raph shrugged.

With that, the five of them set off running through the trees to find the elder Apatosaurus.

As sun continued to rise higher into the sky, it continued to shine down through the leafs as the grass gently swayed in the wind. All around them, the Great Valley was abundant with rich-vegetation that stretched for miles, all the way to the rocky walls that enclosed the land. Waterfalls poured down from the high cliffs and raced into crystal clear rivers. The rivers would generally flow into grass-like lakes that sparkled in the sun. Everywhere the five of them looked, they saw various herbivore herds grazing upon the lush food this beautiful sanctuary had to offer or little ones running around and enjoying the day.

It didn't take long for Littlefoot, Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey to find the elderly long-neck as they soon spotted him walking towards a small clump of trees. Noticing them approaching, he looked down at them with a warm smile on his wrinkled face.

"Hiya, Grandpa." Littlefoot said happily as he trotted to a stop.

"Hello, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck replied to his grandson. He then looked over to the four brothers who were along side his grandson. "And welcome back, boys."

"Thank you, sir." Leo smiled. "It's good to be back."

"Would you care to join us for breakfast?" the elder long-neck graciously offered.

"Of course," Donnie answered, "But we, uh, might have to eat something else."

"Don't worry, D. Just give me a minute and I'll go grab us some breakfast pizzas." Mikey said.

"Very well." Grandpa Longneck agreed. "We will meet you over there." He gestured to a patch of small trees with leafs in the shape of stars nearby.

"Right. Be right back!" Mikey said as he took off back to the Shell-former.

"Come along, boys." Grandpa Longneck said as he, Littlefoot, Leo, Donnie, and Raph walked over to the small trees.

"Okay, I'm hungry." Littlefoot replied as they approached the trees.

* * *

Mikey quickly ran past the wide open field and back into the forest towards the Shell-former.

However, he suddenly stopped when he heard the sound of rustling bushes. Curious, Mikey looked around him, trying to find the source of the noise.

Nothing.

Mikey simply shrugged it off, figuring it could be any number of things like the wind or a small lizard. As he continued on his way, two three-clawed hands parted the bushes. A pale tan and grey Struthiomimus peeked out through the tall leaves and watched as the orange clad turtle ran off. He watched the young turtle disappear into the distance with a raised brow. He had never seen anything like it before. Was that one of the four "shell-backs" that the dinosaurs had been talking about so much lately?

Although he had heard of each of the shell-backs' skills and intelligence, seeing one of them right now made him start to have doubts. The orange one looked slightly shorter than him in stature, so neither he or the other shell-backs would be a problem for him. Besides, no one was as clever as he was.

He soon lost interest in the turtle as he looked over the rest of the valley with a malicious grin.

"I like this place," He said aloud, "yes, I like this place a lot. Don't you, Strut?"

Instead of a reply, the egg-eater only heard a munching sound next to him. He looked down and saw what was making the noise and his face morphed into that of frustration.

"Strut, get up here!" He ordered.

Another Struthiomimus who almost identical to first one popped up out of the grass as he was chewing a piece of grass, much to other's disgust.

"What?" He then swallowed his snack. "I'm just eating."

"Spit that stuff out!" The other demanded. "Go on, spit it out!"

"But Ozzy," Strut whined, "I'm hungry!"

"Spit it out you grass guzzler!" Ozzy snapped, slapping his brother across the face and causing him to gag as he spit out the grass. "No brother of mine is going to eat vegetation. Not while I'm around anyway."

Strut sighed in frustration as he reluctantly spit out the rest of the grass. "Then what are we going to eat, Ozzy?"

"Eggs, dear brother." Ozzy simply stated.

Strut let out a tired groan, "Last time we had those, we were nearly sharp-tooth food!" He shuddered at the horrifying memory that incident a few days ago, "Ugh, I still have sleep-terrors of that."

"Why do you think we came here?" Ozzy asked rhetorically. "Look around, the valley is full of nothing but stupid plant-eaters!" He then smacked his lips, "As well as some nice, plump, juicy eggs."

With that, the two egg-stealers set out through the forest, looking for any defenseless nests to snatch their next meal from.


	2. Being Little

Chapter 2: Being little

A large tree creaked and strained as Grandpa Longneck bent it over with his forepaw. On the end of the tree that lowered to the ground was a single leaf in the shape of a star. Fresh dew collected from the foliage gently splashed onto Littlefoot's nose as he stood up on his hind legs to retrieve it.

"Here you are, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck said. "The last tree-star is for you."

Immediately, Littlefoot snatched the leaf in his mouth and got back down on all fours as he quickly chewed and swallowed the tree-star.

"Great trick, Grandpa." Littlefoot said happily as he licked his lips.

"It's not a trick, Littlefoot," The elderly Apatosaurus chuckled, "all long-necks can do it."

As the Turtles finished up their breakfast pizza, they couldn't help but give some amused smiles as they watched the two long-necks finish their breakfast.

"Great!" Littlefoot exclaimed, "Let me try, Grandpa!"

The Turtles and Grandpa Longneck watched as Littlefoot rushed over to a small tree with a rather thick trunk. They already knew it wasn't going to end well but they didn't want to discourage him. So they simply sat and watched as Littlefoot first tried to bend the tree down with just one paw.

But the tree stayed straight up, refusing to budge. The young long-neck then tried pushing it down with both of his forepaws, and this time the tree wiggled slightly. Littlefoot grunted with effort and slowly climbed up the trunk, causing the tree to bend over like it was made of rubber.

"Careful, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck warned as his grandson continued to climb up the tree.

Like a catapult, the tree flung Littlefoot off and he tumbled several feet away.

When he came to a stop, he felt the ground underneath start to shake. Could it be an earth-shake? Out of the corner of his eye, he managed to spot a stream of dark smoke shooting out of the earth. He looked around and realized he had landed in the center of a small field of geysers.

Grandpa Longneck quickly grabbed the young Apatosaurus by the tail and pulled him away just as the geyser he had landed on erupted with hot fumes spewing out of it.

"Whoa, you okay, Littlefoot?" Michelangelo asked as he, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello leapt up from their place and rushed towards the two long-necks.

"I'm alright." Littlefoot frowned as Grandpa Longneck placed him on the ground next to the Turtles, "But I guess I'm too little, huh?"

"Well, your name is "Littlefoot" after all." Raphael remarked.

Leonardo nudged him with his elbow, giving him a look that told him to shut it as the others gave him either dry or grumpy looks.

"Don't get discouraged, Littlefoot." Leonardo said reassuringly with a kind smile. "You'll get it eventually."

"Yeah, you've just gotta give yourself time." Michelangelo added.

"Oh," Littlefoot grumbled as he stomped the ground with his forepaw in frustration, "I hate being little!"

"Don't worry," His grandpa lightly encouraged. "You'll be grown up soon enough."

"Yeah," Raph agreed, "All of us grow up at some point."

"Easy for you guys to say," Littlefoot replied, "you're all older than us."

"True," Donatello shrugged, "but me, Leo, Raph, and Mikey are technically still kids. So we still have some growing up to do."

"Hey, guys!" A familiar voice called from behind him.

The five of them looked over and saw Cera standing a few yards away on a nearby hill.

"C'mon!" The little yellow triceratops smiled as she motioned for them to come along with her forepaw.

Littlefoot and the Turtles smiled as they saw their friend.

"Grandpa, can we go play?" Littlefoot asked as they looked back at the elderly long-neck.

"Of course, have fun." Grandpa Longneck smiled.

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Littlefoot said happily as he and the Turtles took off after the young three-horn.

"The Valley is a wonderful place to grow up." Grandpa Longneck sighed as he watched them disappear over the hill.

The six of them quickly met up with Ducky, Petrie, and Spike, who were waiting for them at the watering hole.

"Well," Mikey grinned, "looks like the gang's all here."

"Let's play! Let's play!" Ducky cheered.

"How about we play some tag?" Raph suggested.

"Sounds great!" Leo agreed. "One, two, three.."

"NOT IT!" Everyone except for Spike shouted.

"Spike's it!" They all shouted as they began running across the meadow, laughing all the way while Spike chased them.

* * *

Ozzy stuck his head out from behind the tall grass and sniffed the air. Soon, a strong smell that only an egg-eater like him could enjoy reached his nostrils.

"Smell something, Ozzy?" Strut asked as he popped up from the tall grass.

"Hmm, yes," Ozzy replied, glancing in the direction the smell was coming from, "Breakfast! Follow me!"

The two slowly came out of their hiding spot in the tall grass and quietly crept towards a nest full of eggs. The nest was surrounded by large, tall reeds near some small palm trees on the opposite side of the dirt path. And just to the left of it was a small rocky slope that was pretty steep from the looks of it.

The mother of the nest was nowhere to be found, and Ozzy planned to take full advantage of that as he quickly walked over to the nest and snatched one of the eggs. Slowly, he brought the egg to his mouth, ready to feel the tasty juiciness of the egg yolk...

**BANG!**

The next thing Ozzy knew, something hit him hard on his head and for the next few moments he saw stars. Completely dazed, he didn't even notice that the egg had fallen out of his hand and had landed safely back in the nest. Once his dizziness subsided, Ozzy bit down on what he assumed was the egg in his hand. He hollered out in pain as he felt a nasty jab of pain race through his mouth.

He looked down at the object in his hand and saw that it was the rock that had landed on his head, which had slipped down into his hand after he had dropped the egg. Annoyed, Ozzy threw aside the rock as he spat out some pebbles that the bite had broken off.

"Ozzy," Strut peaked through the tall grass, "Did you get a-"

Before Strut could finish, another rock came in seemingly out of nowhere and hit him in the back of the head.

"egg.." He dizzily finished before he fell over on his back with a rather intense headache.

Ozzy rubbed his sore head and was about to pick up another egg when a voice caused him to turn around run back towards the tall grass.

"Hey, you kids!" A female Maiasaura called as she hastily walked down the dirt path and towards the slope. "Stop rolling those rocks downhill!"

On top of the hill, the Turtles and the dino kids peeked over, with Littlefoot and Cera accidentally knocking one more rock down.

"My nest is in there!" The mother dinosaur told them, pointing the reeds of grass.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Leo apologized embarrassingly as he and the others smiled sheepishly.

"We'll go somewhere else!" Littlefoot added with equal embarrassment.

With their little game spoiled, the group quickly backed away from the edge and sat down in the grass, completely bored. They had been playing games for at least an hour or so, and they had quickly gotten bored as there was not very much to do.

"So much for that game." Leo muttered just loud enough for the others to hear him.

"Eh, it wasn't much fun anyway." Cera sighed grumpily.

"Yep, yep, yep," Ducky agreed downheartedly as she plopped down and leaned against Cera's side, "no fun at all."

"Boring." Petrie said dryly as he lay down on Cera's frill.

"This playtime's been kinda lame so far, dudes." Mikey commented as he lay down on his shell.

There was a brief silence between the group before Littlefoot spoke up, "Well, what should we do now?"

"Play hide and seek?" Donnie shrugged.

"Play swimmer and splasher?" Cera suggested.

"Go for a walk?" Raph also suggested.

"Play stop the seed?" Petrie proposed.

"Play some more tag?" Leo recommended.

"Play some video games?" Mikey asked.

Spike simply grunted as if to say 'I don't know.'

"I know!" Ducky exclaimed happily as she leapt to her feet. "We can go to the sheltering grass and play 'Sharptooth Attack'!"

The others laughed or chuckled in amusement as Ducky ran around, imitating Sharptooth with small roars and snarls. As terrifying as that monster was, it was pretty hilarious to see Ducky doing her best interpretation of the beast.

"No way." Cera stated, shaking her head in disgust. "Not if I have to be Sharptooth again."

"Uh, I was Sharptooth last time, Cera." Raph reminded her.

"Oh, right." Cera replied with a bit of embarrassment in her voice. "Forgot about that. Sorry, Raph."

"Hey," Petrie leapt off of the young triceratops and flew over to Spike, "how about Spike be Sharptooth?" The little flyer suggested.

Spike didn't respond since he couldn't talk. Instead, he simply munched on the leafs of a nearby bush.

"Oh, yes, yes, Spike!" Ducky said as she jumped up and ran over to her adopted brother.

"Okay, Spike," Petrie leaned down over Spike's face, "huh?"

"Pleeeaaase?" Ducky innocently begged, giving him the puppy dog eyes (which Mikey taught her how to do).

After about three munches on his snack, Spike nodded his head in passive agreement.

"See?" Petrie said as Ducky jumped up and down, cheering with joy. "He no mind."

"Alright, let's go!" Mikey cheered, leaping to his feet.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky also cheered as she leapt up onto Spike. "We are going to the Sheltering Grass!"

The gang quickly got to their feet and slid down the smooth side of the hill away from the nest. However, when they reached the bottom, something clicked in Littlefoot's mind as he suddenly came to a stop.

"Wait, you guys!" He suddenly spoke.

The others stopped and looked at the young long-neck with looks of confusion. Why was Littlefoot suddenly acting so cautious? Was there something important they needed to know?

"What is it?" Leo finally asked.

"The Sheltering Grass is on the other side of the sinking sand." Littlefoot stated, his voice dripping with concern.

"Sinking sa...oh, you mean the quicksand, right?" Donnie replied.

"I mean sand that pulls you under if you step in it." Littlefoot clarified.

"Yep," Raph nodded, "definitely quicksand."

"So what's your point, Littlefoot?" Cera interjected.

"Well," Littlefoot paused for a brief moment, "my grandparents don't want me going across the sinking sand without them."

"Oh, that right." Petrie said in a panicked tone. "Sinking sand dangerous!" He then began imitated something that looked like a person drowning, making bubbling sounds as he shrunk down behind Cera's frill.

"Yes it is, it is." Ducky sighed sadly.

"Aw, you're just a bunch of scaredy-eggs!" Cera said brashly as she jerked her head up, causing to Petrie to tumble off her back and land on the ground. "I could cross the sinking sands with my eyes closed." The young three-horn began to walk away boldly.

"With her eyes closed?!" Petrie questioned in shock, jolting up from the ground.

"And not looking where she is going?" Ducky fearfully added.

Spike gasped as he dramatically dropped his head down and covered his eyes with his paws.

"That sound fun!" Petrie exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "Petrie try it!"

He then shut his eyes, sticking his beak into the air as he marched forward. He didn't go more than a few paces before he bumping into Spike's face, making both of them snap their eyes open.

They both yelped in surprise as Petrie jumped back. Petrie chuckled nervously as he tried to calm himself down.

"Hey!" Cera called to the group. "Are you scaredy-eggs coming or not?"

Although hesitant at first, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike began to follow. Before they went though, Ducky stopped and turned back to the Turtles and Littlefoot.

"Are you guys coming?" She asked.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Littlefoot all looked to each other. This was a bad idea, and they all knew it, even Mikey. However, if the others were going, they had to be there to get them out of trouble if a situation were to arise.

"We better go with them." Leo advised.

Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Littlefoot all nodded in agreement. They didn't like this idea anymore than he did, but if the a problem should occur, the others would need them.

With that, the group raced off towards the sinking sands, ready to face whatever was there.


	3. The Sinking Sands

Chapter 3: The sinking sands

After a few minutes of running, the group finally approached the Sheltering Grass, and just in between them and the Sheltering Grass was a large body of quicksand. The body of quicksand seemed to stretch for many miles, and it was quite wide, so jumping over it wasn't an option.

"Seriously, guys, I really think we should reconsider this." Leonardo cautiously told them.

"I'm with Leo on this," Littlefoot spoke up, every instinct in his mind telling him that this was a bad idea, "shouldn't we just find a way around?"

Cautiously, Ducky stuck her foot into the quicksand. However, she soon found herself struggling to pull her foot out as it felt like something below the sinking sand was holding her. Eventually, Ducky managed to pull her foot out, and she quickly backed away from quicksand and hid behind Michelangelo's leg.

"I cannot swim in this," She said sadly, "oh no, no, no."

"Well of course you can't, Ducky." Raphael stated. "It's quicksand, what did you expect?"

"Petrie fly across!" Petrie said cheerfully as he hovered over the group.

"Uh, Petrie, I don't think you've noticed, but we don't have wings." Mikey told him. A big grin then came onto his face, "Though I wish could fly!"

Petrie groaned as he gracefully dropped back down to the ground, frowning at the reminder that his friends couldn't fly like he could.

"Poor Petrie." Ducky empathized innocently.

"My dad just jumps from rock to rock." Cera proudly stated.

"Yeah, but your dad's got longer legs than us." Littlefoot replied, his voice dripping with uncertainty.

"Big deal," Cera shrugged, "I could do it too, watch."

However, before Cera could start, Donatello quickly jumped in front of her.

"Cera," Donnie began, holding up his finger and pinning her with a flat look, "trying to cross quicksand is notoriously dangerous.._ AND REALLY STUPID_!"

"Says you!" Cera retorted.

Donnie opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Cera rushed past him and jumped onto a small boulder that was sticking out of the sand, her hind legs falling into the quicksand for a moment before she managed to pull them out.

"See?" She brashly stated, looking over her shoulder. However, in doing so, she lost her balance and fell over into the quicksand.

"CERA!" The others shouted in horror.

Cera's face morphed into one of terror, her pride replaced by fear as she thrashed violently in the in the quicksand.

"Cera, hang on!" Littlefoot cried as he rushed forward with Spike and Ducky.

"No, guys, stop!" Raph shouted. But they ignored the desperate pleas of the Turtles as Littlefoot leapt onto the rock where Cera had landed with Ducky on his back. The little swimmer slide down Littlefoot's neck, off his neck and grabbed Cera by the horn while Littlefoot grabbed Ducky's tail.

However, that proved to be quite futile as Littlefoot lost his balance on the rock and his forelegs fell into the muck. As he struggled to regain his balance while keeping a hold of Ducky, he slipped and his head dunked into the goo. He quickly lashed his head out and shook the sand out.

"Oh no!" Petrie cried as he frantically flew around the group. "What can we do?!"

"We'll go for help!" Mikey said as he, Donnie, Raph, and Leo were about to dart off for help when Petrie flew in front of them.

"No!" Petrie shouted fearfully in their faces. "We're not supposed to be here! If grown-ups find out, we all in trouble!"

"Well at least it's better than letting our friends suffocate in quicksand!" Raph rebuked.

"Petrie, this has gone too far, we need to get help now!" Leo told him.

"Hurray, Spike!" Ducky cheered as the stegosaurus leapt onto the rock onto the rock and began to pull on Littlefoot's tail to keep the young long-neck from falling all the way in.

"That it, Spike, you help!" Petrie shouted as he flew over to the struggling kids. "Wait, me help you! Me pull too!"

"Petrie, wait!" Donnie called out, but the little flyer had already grabbed hold of Spike's tail and began to pull as hard as he could. It was now a tug-of-war contest between the dinosaur kids and the quicksand.

However, the quicksand seemed to win as Littlefoot and Spike lost their footing and the kids plunged into the quicksand!

"HELP! HELP!" They all shouted and screamed as they thrashed around wildly in a panic. Petrie tried to fly out, but the gunk on his wings made them heavy and continued to weigh him down. Ducky scrambled onto Littlefoot's head, but continued to fall into the quicksand.

"GUYS, STOP STRUGGLING!" Leo ordered. "YOU'LL ONLY SINK FASTER IF YOU KEEP STRUGGLING!"

The kids stopped and looked at the Turtles. Their eyes were wide in panic and their faces looked a little pale. Although the dino kids were frightened, they heeded Leo's warning and stopped thrashing wildly. The quicksand continued to pull them under, but at a much slower rate.

"Guys, help us!" Ducky cried as she felt herself sink even deeper into the quicksand.

Now it was definitely too late to go look for the adults now. The four turtles knew that it was up to them to save the kids now.

"Don't worry!" Raph told them reassuringly as he gently gestured out with his hands. "We'll get you out! Just stay calm!"

"Okay," Littlefoot panted as the sand continued to slowly pull them under. "Just hurry!"

The Turtles frantically looked around for anything useful. Mikey would have used his kusarigama chain, but he knew his brothers would be against it due to the sharp sickle at the end of it, so using it wasn't really an option. Donnie couldn't use his staff to reach them since it wasn't long enough, so no to that either. And Leo and Raph didn't really have anything since they had left their ropes back at the Shell-former.

As they kept searching, Mikey looked to his right and saw that high up in a tree was a large, long vine. That might work! He ran towards the tree and quickly scampered up the trunk. Thanks to his ninja training, Mikey managed to reach the branch with the lower end of the vine resting on it in a matter of seconds. He grabbed the vine and pulled it to the ground.

"GUYS, HURRY!" Cera choked. The quicksand was now up to her neck and she was just barely keeping her head above.

Quickly catching onto what Mikey was doing, Raph grabbed the vine, ran to the edge of the quicksand and threw it at the kids.

"Cera, Ducky, Petrie, you first!" Raph shouted.

Cera struggled to reach forward, but managed to grab the end of the vine and held onto it tightly. Ducky and Petrie also managed to grab the vine with their hands and held on for dear life as the Turtles began to pull them out.

The Turtles grunted as they strained to pull the kids out of the quicksand. Doing her best to help, Cera lightly treaded through the muck as the Turtles pulled. Slowly but surely, the Turtles managed to pull Cera, Petrie, and Ducky out of the quicksand and onto the safety of the soft solid earth.

"Now help us save Littlefoot and Spike!" Leo ordered as they threw the vine back out into the quicksand.

"Spike, you go first!" Littlefoot told the large spike-tail as he handed the end of the vine to Spike, who was almost up to his ears in quicksand.

Spike grabbed the vine and the others on the shore immediately began to pull. Thanks to the extra muscle, the group managed to quickly pull Spike out of the quicksand.

"Littlefoot, catch!" Donnie called out as Leo threw the vine out one last time.

Littlefoot tried to catch it, but the vine fell short. As he lunged to get it, the quicksand held his legs firm and his head dunked back into the muck. To everyone's horror, he wasn't coming up as quickly. His back and neck strained, but his head remained under the gooey sand.

Thinking fast, Leo and Donnie rushed forward and jumped onto a small boulder in the middle of the quicksand that was just big enough for them to stand on. They then both grabbed Littlefoot's neck, and with a few hard tugs, managed to pull the young long-neck's head out of the quicksand. Littlefoot gasped and coughed for air, terror glistening in his eyes as he turned and saw his two friends.

"L-Leo! D-Donnie!" the young long-neck choked as Leo and Donnie grabbed the vine, pulling it out enough for Littlefoot to grab with his mouth before they grabbed it with both their hands.

"PULL!" Leo ordered.

The others didn't hesitate for a second as they began tugging on the vine as soon as the blue clad turtle gave the order. After a minute or so of pulling, they managed to pull the two turtles and the young apatosaurus onto shore. As soon as they were safe, the group collapsed on the ground, panting heavily as their wave of panic slowly washed away. Littlefoot, however, was still frightened by the event of almost suffocating as he collapsed into Leo's lap, eyes wide and afraid as he trembled violently.

"I was so scared." He whimpered as he rubbed his face against Leo's shoulder.

Leo wrapped his arms around Littlefoot in a comforting hug. "It's okay, your safe now." He whispered tenderly, gently stroking Littlefoot's back as the young long-neck silently sobbed into his plastron.

The other Dino kids couldn't hold back their tears of fear as they let their tears fall. Deciding to comfort them, the other Turtles gently hugged each of their friends as they tried to calm them down. Raph held Cera gently in his strong arms as the headstrong three-horn cried into his plastron. Donnie gently stroked Petrie's head as the little flyer weeped on his shoulder. Mikey gently cradled both Ducky and Spike in his arms as the little swimmer and the large spike-tail gently wailed into his shoulders.

After a few minutes, the group eventually calmed down as they whipped their tears away. Slowly getting to their feet, they began to walk away from the sinking sands.

"Is everyone alright?" Donnie asked once they were a good distance away.

"We are now." Cera replied. "Thanks, guys. You know, it's handy to have you on our team."

To the kids' surprise and fear, none of the Turtles smiled at the compliment, not even Mikey. Instead, they all glared crossly at the kids.

"Guys?" Littlefoot asked nervously as he took a step back.

"If we're so handy," Mikey began, his voice unusually low and angry, "then why didn't you listen to us?"

"We thought we could make it." Ducky shyly answered.

"You thought you could make it?" Leo angrily repeated. "Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid that was?!" He asked sharply, making the kids flinch in fear.

"W-we're sorry if we worried you." Littlefoot weakly said.

"Worry us?!" Donnie snapped, causing the kids to step back in alarm. "You guys nearly scared us half to death!"

"Seriously, you kids got any brains behind those thick skulls of yours?!" Raph barked harshly.

"Next time you want to pull a stunt like that again, think about first! Is that understood?!" Leo scolded.

The children nervously nodded in agreement. They were not really used to seeing the Turtles so angry. They slightly coiled back as they felt guilty over doing something reckless.

The Turtles' faces quickly softened as they saw their young friends looking down in shame. Maybe they had been too hard on them?

"Guys, we're sorry," Donnie said, twiddling his finger, "It's just..."

Donnie sighed as he found himself unable to finish his sentence.

"It's okay," Littlefoot replied sheepishly, "the important thing is that we're okay and the grown-ups didn't catch us."

"Catch you doing what, exactly?" A harsh, deep voice came from behind them, startling the group.

The Gang nervously turned around and saw the dinosaur adults standing over them, looking down at them with disapproving glares.

"Daddy," Cera nervously smiled as she addressed the old three-horn who called them out, "Uh, how long have you all been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear a few things," Topps replied with a small hint of anger in his voice, "What was all that screaming about? It sounded like you were calling for help. And why are you all covered in sand?"

The group of friends looked to each other with worried expressions. Oh, how were they going to explain this to them?

"We are so busted." Raph dryly stated with the others nodding in agreement.

"Totally." Mikey whimpered.

Knowing a lecture or two was coming their way, and that there was no lying about this, the group relented their story about the quicksand incident. And needless to say, the adults were not happy.


	4. Comfort

Chapter 4: Comfort

Ozzy peeked out from behind the large rocks at the foot of the Great Wall and grinned maliciously.

"Now is the time all the good little eggs to be safely tucked into their nests'" He cunningly sneered.

"I wouldn't mind being tucked in," Strut yawned as he laid down, "I'm 'egg'-austed." He briefly laughed at his own pun.

Ozzy looked down at his brother with annoyance as he kicked him hard in the snout.

"Would you stop complaining?" Ozzy snapped.

"But Ozzy, I'm tired and I'm hungry" Strut whined tiredly. "Couldn't I just have an icy-bity little green nighttime snack?"

"No! Can't you see I'm trying to wean you away from that 'stuff'?" Ozzy scolded harshly. "From now on, you've got to think, feel, and breathe only one food group: eggs."

"Ozzy, what's the matter with a little vegetation?" Strut questioned. "Last time we had eggs we were nearly sharp-tooth diner!"

"Are you still fretting about that?" Ozzy groaned irritably.

"Yes I am, as a matter of fact!" Strut retorted. "If you hadn't insisted on eating the whole nest, we wouldn't have been chased off."

"And we still left behind one juicy egg." Ozzy muttered angrily to himself.

"Ozzy," Strut moaned again, "can't we for once just play it safe and just have some green food instead?"

"Do not worry, dear brother, the whole Valley will be asleep." Ozzy began as he looked out over the Great Valley with a mischievous grin as the sky began to darken and the moon began to rise. "And tonight, we feast."

The two quickly and quietly ran across the Valley, hiding in the shadows as best they could as they searched for herds with nests full of eggs.

* * *

"Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck began as he lowered his head towards his young grandson, "your grandma and I just don't want to lose you."

"You are all we have left." Grandma Longneck added as she gently nuzzled the young long-neck.

"It's just so hard being little." Littlefoot sighed with frustration evident in his voice.

"Oh, you'll grow up faster than you think." Grandma Longneck said with a soft laugh. "Be patient. You should enjoy being young while it lasts."

"And stay close to the herd." Grandpa Longneck reminded him.

Littlefoot simply rolled his eyes as he sighed at the lecture.

"We feel safe here in the Valley," The elderly male apatosaurs told him as he looked out towards the surrounding rocks, "The Great Wall protects us from sharp-teeth and other dangers of the Mysterious Beyond. But there are dangers in the Valley as well, Littlefoot. You must always be careful."

"But my friends-" Littlefoot began.

"Hush now," Grandma Longneck gently interrupted, "It's time to go to sleep." She then looked up and scanned the area. "Where are Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo?"

Littlefoot sadly looked down at his forepaws for a moment and then looked towards the river. "I saw them go that way." He answered.

Grandma Longneck walked towards the river and saw the four brothers kneeling on the edge of the bank. The four of them were huddled together just inches away from the water with Leonardo and Donatello staring up at the night sky and Raphael and Michelangelo simply staring at their reflections in the water.

"Boys?"

The Turtles jumped a bit, snapping out of their thoughts as they turned towards the elderly female apatosaurus approaching them.

"Yes, ma'am?" Leo said as he and his brothers stood up and turned around.

"Are you all alright?" Grandma asked in a concerned voice.

Donnie shook his head, "We're still thinking about what happened today. We should have stopped them before they tried to cross the quicksand."

Raph sighed as he looked down, "We shouldn't have lost our tempers and yelled at them like that."

"Yeah, we were just scared for them." Mikey added.

Grandma Longneck lowered her head to they're level. "Oh, boys, I know you didn't mean to make the children feel bad. I understand that you were frightened for them."

The Turtles shifted nervously to each other, still unable to lock eyes with the elderly long-neck.

"It's just that.." Leo bit his lip before sighing. "Ever since we met them in the Mysterious Beyond, I guess we can't help but feel kind of responsible for them." Donnie, Raph, and Mikey all nodded in agreement with that statement.

Grandma Longneck gave a soft smile as she nuzzled each of the Turtles. "I understand, Leonardo." She said kindly. "I too feel responsible for what happens to my family and friends. But what happened today was not your's or your brothers faults. All that matters is what you do now."

Feeling a bit better, the Turtles each gave small smiles at the compliment.

"You sound just like our sensei." Leo said.

Grandma chuckled a bit. "I'm sure he is a wise being." The elderly long-neck began to turn back to her nest. "Come, you may sleep with us tonight. "

"Oh, that's a bit too generous, we don't want to disturb you." Donnie told her.

"Oh please, I insist." Grandma Longneck replied.

Deciding not to argue, the Turtles followed Grandma back to the nesting ground.

Once they arrived, the Turtles walked over to Littlefoot, who was curled up in a small ball right next to his grandfather. The little apatosaurus was just about to fall asleep when he saw the Turtles coming towards him.

"Hey, Littlefoot." Mikey said as they sat down next to him.

"Guys, listen," Littlefoot looked at them with a guilty expression, "I'm sorry that we scared you today. I didn't mean.."

"It's okay," Raph interrupted, "we're sorry we yelled at you guys."

"Yeah, we were just scared for your safety." Leo added.

"We didn't mean to get so angry with you." Donnie also added.

All of them then fell silent, unable to express their apologies any further.

The wind gently rustled the leaves of the trees as the night sky rang with the sound of loud crickets chirping. The stars twinkled brightly above in the sky as the moon shone down on them with a radiant white glow.

It had been several hours since the Turtles and the Long-necks had fallen asleep. They slept rather peacefully with some of them even snoring as they were huddled together comfortably when the Turtles and Littlefoot heard a hushed voice from nearby.

"Littlefoot, Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey!"

Blinking several times as they woke up, the five of them each sat up as they rubbed the tiredness out of their eyes. What was it now? Who would be up to call them this late?

They then turned in the direction where the voice came from. The voice seemed to come from a small patch of tall grass that was just behind them.

"Cera?" Mikey whispered in surprise.

"Guys, over here!" The voice came again. It was Cera's voice alright, no mistaking that.

The five of them got up and quietly tip-toed over to the tall reeds. Cera poked her head slightly out of the bushes as she looked up at them.

"What are you doing here this late?" Littlefoot whispered groggily.

"I couldn't sleep," Cera replied in the same hushed voice, "It's important. We've gotta talk."

"Can it wait 'till morning?" Leo questioned as he and the others yawned slightly.

"No." Cera simply answered. "We need to talk, like right now."

"Now?" Mikey asked rather loudly.

"Shh!" The others quickly silenced him. "Yes, now." Cera answered.

When Littlefoot hesitated a bit, the young three-horn got back in his face, "Scared of the dark?" She asked teasingly.

"I'm not scared." Littlefoot mildly shot back as the Turtles frowned slightly.

"Then c'mon," Cera motioned with her head, "let's get the others."

With that, the group set off into the night to gather the rest of their little herd.

**Hey guys! Sorry if this was a short chapter, but I'm a bit busy with school. So I try to get these out as fast and long as I can. Hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you next time.**


	5. Cut and Run

Chapter 5: Cut and Run

The moon was high and full in the night sky above the Great Valley as the gang rested on top of one of Tall Peak, the highest plateau on the east side of the Great Valley. While Littlefoot, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike sat down, Cera remained on her feet.

"Yep, yep, yep, we are all here," Ducky sighed, "Yes we are."

"But what we here for?" Petrie shrugged.

"Can you just get to the point and tell us what's so important that you needed to wake us up in the middle of the night for?" Raph grumpily questioned.

"Yeah! This turtle needs his beauty sleep!" Mikey yawned in agreement.

"Grown-ups!" Cera spat as she walked by the group. Like a general addressing her troops, she looked back at the others and commandingly asked, "I suppose you all got the same lecture I did?"

"Mm-hmm," Everyone but the Turtles nodded (even though they knew if Splinter were here, he would have given them more than just a simple lecture).

"Me too young to wander far." Petrie sarcastically repeated as he tried to imitate his mother in both voice and action by waving his wings.

"We are not grown-ups and should remember it." Ducky dryly said, tapping her forehead with her finger.

"There are many dangers, I must always be careful." Littlefoot blandly repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Don't hang out with long-neck, beak-faces, spike-tails, and shell-backs." Cera gruffly stated.

Quickly realizing and regretting what she had said, Cera worriedly turned back towards her friends, who were all staring at her with surprised and slightly offended looks.

"Well, it was mostly the same lecture." She sheepishly added. "My dad's words, not mine."

"C'mon, guys," Mikey spoke up, "your parents are just worried that your gonna get hurt."

"THAT'S the problem!" Cera said, stomping up to Mikey's face and making the orange clad turtleean back. "They don't think we can take care of ourselves. We've gotta do something so that the grown-ups will stop treating us like hatchlings!"

"Technically, you are still hatchlings." Donnie interjected. "And as such, it-"

"Not helping, Donnie!" Cera snapped.

"Cera right!" Petrie said, agreeing with Cera's earlier statement as he folded his wings and leaping next to Cera.

"I agree, I do, I do!" Ducky replied.

"Guys," Raph rather forcefully began, "you all nearly drowned in quicksand earlier today! If anything happened to you, how do you think they would feel?"

"Hey, who's side are you on?!" Cera snapped.

"It's not about sides!" Leo shot back. He then gestured to himself and his brothers. "It's just that we're the eldest of the group, which means we have to be responsible for you!"

The kids looked at the four turtles with inquisitively surprised expressions.

"Guys," Littlefoot gently said, "is something wrong?"

The Turtles were silent for a moment as they glanced to each other.

"No, why?" Mikey asked.

"Well, we know you guys wouldn't be acting that way if everything was fine." He replied. Littlefoot then walked up closer to the Turtles. "You can tell, we're your friends."

The four brothers remained silent for a moment, unable to lock gazes with any of the kids. Since they seemed to share the same opinion about not wanting to be controlled, the Turtles weren't sure how they would take their side of things. Granted, the Turtles had had their fair share of when they had stubbornly disobeyed Master Splinter, but that was usually for the better. But with the others, they were just kids, they weren't ready to handle these kinds of dangers all on their own.

The four of them glanced at each other again before they collectively sighed, each of them realizing that they weren't going to have any relief until they told the kids the truth.

"it's just that.." Raph hesitated as he tried to search for the right words to say. It was embarrassing for him to have to try and explain what his and his brothers' concerns were about. "ever since we found you guys in the Mysterious Beyond, we've been having to take care of you. You guys mean a lot to us, and if anything were to happen to you, we don't what we'd do."

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey all nodded in agreement as they shifted a bit nervously. The kids looked at each other with sympathetic faces as they heard the Turtles' story. They felt bad for now ignoring their friends' worries as they had no idea how much they meant to the four brothers.

Littlefoot shifted his position slightly and gently nudged each of the Turtles faces. They smiled slightly and gently patted him on the head and back.

"You should have told us sooner." Littlefoot said softly.

"We know that." Donnie shrugged. "I guess we just didn't know how to say it."

The others looked down at the ground as they thought about how their actions had affected their friends. Even Cera, who was still rather angry at the fact that the grown-ups were constantly telling them what to do, felt a nasty jab of guilt.

"We didn't mean to make you guys feel bad," Leo sighed as the group sat down by the edge and looked out over the edge of the rocks, "We just hope you understand why we yelled at you today. Although we.."

But before Leo could finish his sentence, Donnie spotted two creatures walking away from Ducky's nest near the base of the plateau.

"Struthiomimus!" Donnie cried, jumping to his feet in alert as he pointed down to the two creatures.

Everyone sharply turned and looked to where he was pointing, and they gasped in horror as they saw that one of the two creatures had an egg in it's clutches.

"Dudes, look!" Mikey exclaimed. "They're stealing one of those eggs!"

"They're egg-napping part of our family!" Ducky whispered in fear and worry.

"C'mon, let's go get the grown-ups!" Littlefoot said as he began to run down the slope.

"No, wait!" Cera exclaimed, rushing out in front of him as a mischievous grin came across her face. "If we catch them ourselves, it'll show everyone that we're not babies anymore!"

"I don't know about that," Littlefoot tentatively replied.

"You know what? I'm with Cera on this one." Raph said, an eager grin on his face as he jumped down next to Cera. "There's nine of us and only two of them, we can handle it."

"Well.." Littlefoot bit his lip.

Leo placed a hand on his shoulder, "I don't like it either, but it'll be too late by the time we get the adults." He told the young long-neck. "We'll have to handle this on our own." He then turned to the kids, "You guys can come along, but you have to stay close to us. We don't want have another incident like earlier."

"You got it!" Cera nodded. "Now c'mon let's go get them!"

"Stopping some bad guys from stealing some eggs, let's do this boi!" Mikey cheered.

Ducky leapt onto Spike's back and Petrie flew above the group as they raced down the hill after the egg-stealers. Under the moonlight, the group couldn't see the two dinosaurs very well. It also didn't help with the fact that they had stopped underneath the shadows of a few large trees. However, even though they couldn't see them very well, they could definitely hear them.

"Okay, now I get the first bite!" One egg-stealer snapped in a rough voice. "After all, it was my idea!"

Leo turned to the others, making several hand gestures as he silently told them the plan. After finishing telling them the plan, Leo silently drew his katanas. Catching on to what Leo's was planning, the group nodded in agreement as Raph and Donnie drew their weapons with Mikey taking out a few shurikens while the kids got ready to charge forward.

Mikey held his arm back, ready to throw the shurikens as a warning shot and signal the others to attack. Taking aim at a large trunk among the trees that was just in between the two egg-stealers, Mikey threw the shurikens. They sailed through the air almost noiselessly as they hit the trunk in front of the struthiomimus with several loud thunks. The one that was about to take a bite out of the egg nearly dropped it as the unexpected interference made him jump.

"You ain't going anywhere with that egg!" Mikey shouted.

The two egg-stealers looked up as they saw the group jump out of bushes and charge towards them.

"Drop that egg!" Cera also shouted.

"Uh-oh!" The same egg-stealer grunted fearfully. "We've been spotted!" He then turned to the other egg-stealer, "I told you not to be so obvious!"

The one holding the egg shoved it into the other one's arms before he took off running. The second egg-stealer glanced at the egg for a moment before sharply looking up and racing after the other. "Ozzy, wait for me!" He cried.

"Bring back my brother, um, or sister!" Ducky shouted as the group chased after the two egg-stealers.

The two groups rushed across the valley toward the east wall. When the gang reached the base of the cliffs, they stopped just as the two egg-stealers nimbly made their way up the rugged paths in the wall.

"They're headed for the Mysterious Beyond." Cera nervously panted. "Maybe we should get help after all."

"It's too late now." Raph replied. "C'mon, they're getting away!"

The Turtles and Littlefoot ran forward and began to climb up the rocks. When the five of them got to the ridge, they looked back and saw the others looked quite hesitant, scared of the idea of going into the wasteland beyond the wall.

"This was your idea," Littlefoot said to Cera, "are you coming or not?"

Cera frowned for a moment, unsure of what to do. Littlefoot looked back to Leo, who nodded to him. As if reading each other's minds, the five of them began to run along the same path as the egg-stealers.

Cera gave a look of defiance for a moment before huffing and kicking up dirt with her left forepaw. She then rushed forward, smashing a large boulder to pebbles with a head-on collision as she raced after her friends. Spike, seeing the others move, began to run after them too. Petrie, meanwhile, flew above the group and began to look for the two struthiomimus.

"Me see them!" He yelled down to the group. "They headed for that cliff!"

"Nice work, Petrie!" Donnie called up to him. "C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

Ozzy and Strut continued to make their way up the side of the cliff as they were going as fast as they could to escape their pursuers. Strut tossed the stolen egg up to Ozzy and hoisted himself up onto the ledge. The two stopped for a moment to catch their breath, trying to calm themselves.

"How.. big are they?" Ozzy panted.

Strut nervously looked back. The night circle was on the far edge of the cliff side and the shadows it casted of their pursuers made their silhouettes appear distorted and jagged. Worst of all, they stretched a great deal, making them look massive despite the fact that they were at least several yards behind.

"Oh, they're big!" Sturt reported nervously as he turned to his brother. "VERY big!"

A new sense of fear instilled in them, the two egg-stealers hastily made their way up the cliff. As Ozzy reached the top of the peak and looked over, he was shocked and horrified to see a large deep chasm that separated them from the opposite side, which was about a foot lower than the ledge they were currently on.

When Strut joined his brother, they both looked for a way to get around it. However, they soon found that they only had two options now: either attempt to jump to the other side, or turn back and face their chasers.

"You first!" Ozzy suddenly shouted as he unexpectedly pushed Strut over the ledge.

Strut only had a second to react as he managed to slightly jump off the ledge. He screamed in terror as he flew across chasm, knowing that if he made one wrong move, he would surely plummet to his death.

By some pure dumb luck, Strut was able to just barely reach the opposite ridge. Ozzy gripped the egg tightly in his hands before he jumped across the gap, barely making the landing.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the two spirited off, believing they had temporarily lost their pursuers.


	6. Lost and Found

Chapter 6: Lost and Found

The Gang quickly raced as fast as they could up the to the top of the cliff. They all stopped, however, when they reached the massive crevasse that separated them from the other side. Petrie flew over and examined the gap before landing gracefully on the opposite edge as he encouragingly looked back at the others.

"It not so far!" He called to them. "You can do it!"

"Ha! Easy peasy!" Michelangelo quipped as he ran forward and jumped to the other side with relative ease.

Leonardo went next as he took a few steps back before sprinting forward and flipping to the other side. "C'mon guys, hurry!"

Donatello and Raphael were next as they dashed forward and easily jumped over to the other side, doing small somersaults as they landed.

Littlefoot swallowed a bit before summoning up his courage and taking large leap to the other side. He landed heavily on the ledge as he stumbled forward a bit before coming to a stop.

"Spike, you next!" Littlefoot ordered.

Spike didn't hesitate for a moment as he immediately jumped the crevasse. However, he didn't fully make the jump as he grabbed a hold of the edge with his upper body hanging over the edge. But with a little help from Mikey, he was able hoist himself up onto the other side.

"Ducky, get on and hold tight!" Cera lowered her head, allowing the little swimmer to climb onto the base of her neck.

Cera took a deep breath, scrapped some dirt under her paw, and let out a huff as she ran forward. She jumped as high and as far as she could over the gap and caught the ledge with her forepaws. However, Raph managed to grab her paws and pull her up before she could fall off.

"Where's Ducky?" Mikey asked.

"Don't worry, I've got her right here." Cera replied as she pulled her tail up, revealing Ducky clinging onto it.

"And I've got you!" Ducky giggled as she let go of Cera's tail.

"C'mon," Donnie motioned the others with his hand to follow, "we've gotta catch up with those two struthiomimus before it's too late!"

With that, the group set out once more in pursuit of the egg-stealers. As they continued on, dark, ominous clouds began to cover the moon above them.

* * *

"I hope this egg is worth it." Strut panted as the two egg-stealers continued to climb up the cliff.

"Worth it?!" Ozzy snapped as he snatched the egg from Strut's grip. "ALL eggs are worth it, Bark Breath!" He rubbed the smooth surface of the egg against his face before shoving it back into Strut's arms.

"Now c'mon!" He ordered.

Strut reluctantly nodded as he followed his older brother up the cliff as thunder crashed in the clouds above them. He only stopped for a moment as he looked over the edge, trying to see if their pursuers were below.

Lately, he and Ozzy had been hearing stories about the most feared sharp-tooth, Sharptooth himself, being defeated by five children and four teenagers: A long-neck, a three-horn, a swimmer, a spike-tail, a flyer, and four shell-backs. Since his defeat at the hands of the gang, the news of Sharptooth's death had spread like wildfire throughout the Mysterious Beyond. And while the stories may have varied on how he was defeated, the details of those nine individuals was in every story they heard.

"Who are those guys?" Strut muttered to himself.

Was it possible that the ones chasing them were the same ones from the stories?

* * *

"Oh no." Cera moaned as rain began to fall from the sky.

"C'mon, we gotta keep moving." Raph urged as the group walked through the same gulley the egg-stealers had taken.

The rain began to pour down as the Turtles put their hands over their heads to keep the rain from falling into their eyes. The group struggled to see and strained their eyes to see what was down the path in front of them as they continued on their way.

"Acting grown-up is hard," Ducky sighed as she stopped on a rock to wipe some sweat and raindrops off her forehead, "it is, it is."

Ducky then crawled down the stone and ran to catch up with the group.

Petrie, worn and winded, landed on Spike's back and lay flat on his stomach. His wings ached badly from all the flying he had to do as they were nearly numb from the cold rain splashing on them. He panted heavily and groaned as he struggled to stay awake.

"My feet are killing me." Mikey whined miserably as the group pressed on through the rainstorm.

"S-so cold." Donnie shivered as he rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself.

"We can't give up now, guys." Leo told him, even though his feet were also sore and he was freezing.

"Yeah, don't forget we were the ones who beat Sharptooth, the most feared T-Rex ever." Raph encouraged.

Hearing about their past victory rose everyone's spirits, causing them to smile a little in pride and determination.

"Your right, both of you." Littlefoot nodded. "If we can defeat Sharptooth, we can catch those strutha...uh..struthma..um.."

The young long-neck struggled to form the word as his mouth seemed unable to say it.

"Struthiomimus." Donnie finally said.

"Yeah, what you said." Littlefoot replied sheepishly.

"You'll get it." Donnie smiled kindly as he patted Littlefoot's head.

Littlefoot smiled back before he cleared his throat, "Anyway, with that said, let's keep going."

* * *

Ozzy and Strut reached a large pile of rocks that stood between the Valley and the Mysterious Beyond. Using two other ledges like stairs, they hopped onto an outcrop where the mouth of a cave opened up into the side a large cliff on their left. Ozzy easily made it up with just two simple jumps, while Strut struggled a bit since he was the one carrying the stolen egg.

"Ha!" Ozzy triumphantly laughed. "We made it, Strut! Those little grass-nippers will never be able to follow us now!"

He then turned and looked to their prize, ignoring how tired his brother was, and rubbed his hands together mischievously.

"it won't be long, egg," Ozzy grinned hungrily, "Soon you'll be nestled in the pit of my stomach!"

Ozzy gave one more malevolent laugh before confidently strolling into the cave.

"Ozzy," Strut panted as he followed his older brother into the cave, "when is it your turn to hold the egg?"

* * *

Shortly after, the gang arrived at the base of the wall of boulders. The rain had started to become a little lighter as they looked around their surroundings for any sign of the two struthiomimus.

"Where they go?" Petrie asked.

"I don't see anybody." Cera said as she scanned the area.

Donnie and Mikey walked up to the wall of boulders, inspecting it curiously.

"Maybe they went over the wall?" Donnie suggested.

"I'm on it!" Mikey said. He then jumped onto Donnie's hands, giving enough boost to jump over the wall.

"Ali-Loop!" Donnie said as he boosted Mikey over the wall.

However, immediately after he disappeared from sight, the group could hear the loud sounds of crashing rocks followed by Mikey's agonizing screams. After about five seconds of it, the noises finally stopped.

"Ow, I don't think they went this way." Mikey groaned from the other side, causing the others to wince in sympathy.

As the others helped Mikey get back over the wall, Littlefoot walked towards the base of the cliff that towered over them on the left. He squinted his eyes as he could just barely make out a dark opening on the ledge above them.

"They must have gone into that cave." Littlefoot said as he pointed to the cave entrance.

"Only one way to find out, c'mon." Leo said as everyone made their way up the small ridges and onto the ledge of the cave. While Leo, Littlefoot, Donnie, Petrie, Ducky, Raph, and Spike didn't hesitate to enter, Mikey and Cera took one look into the blackness of the cave and became very nervous as they stepped back a little.

"Cera, Mikey, what's taking you?" Littlefoot asked in concern as he and Raph emerged from the shadows of the cave.

"Um, nothing," Mikey shyly answered. He had never felt comfortable being in dark places, even though he was a ninja.

Cera snobbishly turned away and stuck her horn up in the air, "We just don't feel like going in there right now.

"Cera, Mikey, c'mon. There's nothing to be afraid of." Raph told them reassuringly.

Cera simply huffed in response while Mikey just timidly rubbed his arm.

"Alright then," Littlefoot sighed, knowing nothing they could say was going to convince them to go in as he turned back to the cave, "we're going without you."

As Raph turned around and began to follow Littlefoot, he turned back to Mikey and Cera, "Hope you two enjoy thunderstorms!" He called back to them.

At that moment, a bright flash of lightning cut through the sky like a knife cutting through butter which was followed by a loud clap of thunder that seemed to shake the earth itself.

Needless to say, Mikey and Cera were startled out of their wits as they screamed in terror and rushed into the cave.

"Shh!" Raph sharply turned around and raised a finger to his lips. "Quiet!" He whispered urgently.

Mikey and Cera nervously looked around the cave as they followed the others, their eyes adjusting to the darkness as they went.

"It sure is dark in here." Mikey nervously said as the group wandered through the cave.

As if responding to his idea, Leo took a large stick, took two rocks and scraped them against each other, creating a few sparks. After a few failed attempts, Leo was able to start a small torch fire, creating a small torch.

While the torch didn't give too much light, it was enough to see their way around the cave, as well as it's structure. The interior seemed to be made up of something that resembled sandstone with stalactites growing down from the ceiling.

"Well, that's handy." Littlefoot commented as he looked at the torch Leo was holding.

"Heh, thanks." Leo grinned as he held up the torch.

With a small source of light guiding their way, the group quickly made their way through the caverns, hoping that they would find the two egg-stealers before it was too late.

After a few minutes of wandering around, the group came into a large corner in the middle of the caverns. However, as they approached the corner, they heard the sound of the two egg-stealers catching their breath as they panted and gasped for air.

Knowing they were close, Leo quickly blew out the torch, causing the caverns to once again be shrouded in darkness with only the slight glimpse of light that came from the lightning outside.

"Okay, Strut," One of the struthiomimus said in a deep, commanding voice, "now it's my turn to hold the egg."

Everyone froze in horror as they heard the sound of the egg-stealer licking his chops.

Ducky began to become frantic at the thought of her unborn brother or sister being eaten.

"We got to do something fast!" She whispered fearfully.

Leo bit his lip as he began desperately trying to come up with a plan.

They had to get the egg away from them, but they also had to distract the struthiomimus too. If only they had something to frighten them with...

Wait! Maybe they DID have something to scare them!

"Guys, follow my lead! I've got an idea!" Leo whispered to the others. He then bent over and quietly whispered the plan to the others. After finishing, the others grinned and nodded in agreement as Raph pulled out a smoke bomb.

Raph then ran around the corner and threw the smoke bomb at the two egg-stealers just as the one that was holding the egg was about to eat it.

Before the two egg-stealers knew what was happening, their vision was filled with a distorting purple smoke as they dropped the egg to cover their mouths while they coughed harshly.

"GIVE US THE EGG!" Raph shouted as the smoke began to clear. And the two egg-stealers nearly screamed at what they saw.

Standing in front of them were four bipedal terrapin creatures, each holding sharp weapons in each of their hands, their eyes having no pupils and only white slits, making them look all the more intimidating.

As if to add to the oncoming drama, lightning flashed from outside, illuminating the caverns as thunder echoed through them and the rain began to stop.

The two egg-stealers took one glance at the four creatures and immediately began to scramble out of the cavern, screaming in fear.

"Guys, get the egg!" Leo shouted to the others.

In all the confusion, the kids rushed out from behind the corner as the group attempted to grab the egg that was rolling across the ground.

As Cera got close to it, she let out a small scream as she realized there was a pillar of rock in front of her. However, she wasn't able to stop herself in time as she rammed into the pillar with tremendous force.

The column crumbled as the whole cavern began to shake. Chunks of rock began to fall from the ceiling and crush the stalagmites below.

"CAVE-IN!" Donnie cried. "EVERYONE OUT!"

Now panicking, the group raced through the caverns, trying to find a way out as waves of rocks and small boulders rolled after them. And unfortunately for the group, they soon reached a dead end in the cavern.

The group screamed as impeding death seemed to upon them. Soon they felt the heavy hitting of the rocks upon them as they were slammed against the stone wall.

The impact of the rocks pushed them out of a weak spot in the wall and before they knew what was happening, they were sent flying out of the cave and onto the wall of boulders they had encountered before.

The avalanche of rocks spilled onto the barrier, causing it to crumble away, taking the four teenagers and five kids with them down the path towards the swamp in the Mysterious Beyond.

* * *

The same rockslide swept up the two struthiomimus and carried them down the path back to the Great Valley.

The two of the tumbled wildly down the hill with the stolen egg falling with them.

"Whatever you do, Strut, don't, OW, lose that egg!" Ozzy grunted as he tumbled down the wave of rocks.

Strut, after hearing the command, quickly tried desperately to reach the egg as he surfed on a large slab of stone.

He almost managed to grab it when the rocks abruptly came to a halt, burying the two egg-stealers and causing Strut to lose his grip on the egg as it rolled away from the fallen rocks. It continued to do so until it reached it's nest and flipped back into the cluster of it's unhatched siblings.

* * *

The Gang screamed as the slide of rocks carried them down towards a ledge that dropped right into a large body of murky water that was full of various dinosaur skeletons.

Thankfully, the rockslide came to a stop as the path leveled out and the group stopped just short of the edge. Only a few rocks toppled over the edge, breaking apart a few skeletons as they fell into the swamp.

When it was all over, the group sat up and shook their dizziness away, collectively groaning as they felt sharp pains all over their bodies. They were all covered in piles of rocks as they struggled to get up

"HELP!" Ducky's voice screamed, breaking the silence.

Leo quickly got up from his spot and ran over to the edge. On the edge, they saw Ducky just barely clinging on to the outcrop as Petrie hung onto her tail.

"Is everyone alright?" Leo groaned slightly as the others sat up from the piles of rocks while he helped Ducky and Petrie back up onto the ledge.

"My tummy hurts." Littlefoot moaned.

"I think I bent my horn." Cera murmured, rubbing her horn with her paw.

"I think my bruises have bruises." Donnie whined.

"Only broke my skull, nothing important." Raph said sarcastically as he rubbed his aching head.

"I do not feel so good, no, no, no." Ducky moaned.

"Oh, I think my shell got knocked loose." Mikey whimpered, rubbing his shell.

"Ugh," Petrie groaned as he landed on a clump of rocks, "Petrie not okay. Me hurt everywhere."

Petrie fell over onto the stones and whined as wings began to ache with dull pain.

Suddenly, the rocks below him began to move!

Cera rose to her feet as the rocks tumbled off her. Petrie jumped and yelped as he saw he was directly standing on Cera's angry face.

"Augh!" He squawked before smiling sheepishly. "Good Cera!"

Frustrated, Cera snorted and blew the little pteranadon off her face.

"Where is Spike?" Ducky worriedly asked as she leapt off the rock and in front of Cera.

As if to answer her question, the ground below Cera began to shake as the spike-tail in question emerged from the rubble underneath Cera's feet.

Ducky cheered happily as Spike walked towards her with Cera slipping off his back. The young spike-tail immediately started to smother the little swimmer with loving licks. Ducky laughed as she fell over onto back, overwhelmed by the affectionate licks.

"Spike, stop it!" Ducky giggled. "I'm okay, I am, I am!"

Pretty soon, everyone joined in with a laugh of his or her own. Even though they had been nearly crushed by rocks and almost ended up in a swamp, they couldn't help but laugh in relief as they were all safe and together.

However, as their laughter ceased, they could have all sworn they heard a faint roar from far away.

But they ignored it as they stood on the outcrop overlooking the swamp. Scattered in the murky water were skeletons of various dinosaurs from duckbills, to three-horns, to long-necks. And above them was a giant T-Rex skeleton that rested on a rock that curved over their heads.

When the group heard the sound of the violent roar, the kids immediately became fearful while the Turtles tensed up, looking around slightly nervously. From the sound of it, the roar sounded both terrifying and agonizing.

Spike immediately drove his head into the ground as he trembled.

Petrie flew past Leo and gripped Littlefoot's neck, causing the young long-neck to choke a little.

"I want to go home." Cera whimpered.

"Maybe coming out here wasn't such a good idea." Raph said a tad nervous.

"But what about the egg?" Ducky reminded them. "We cannot leave it here all alone."

"I...I'm afraid it got smashed." Leo said sadly. "I'm..so sorry, Ducky." There was no way the egg could've survived that rockslide, and all of them knew it. And Ducky's sad, tearful face only made it all the more painful.

"Bye-bye, baby sister or baby brother." Ducky sobbed as she slowly walked over to the T-Rex skeleton's foot.

Eventually, Spike lifted his head out of the ground and looked at the little swimmer. Seeing his adoptive sister upset made Spike whimper in sadness. Since he was kind of also part of Ducky's family, it was like he had lost a family member too.

"Don't cry, Ducky." Littlefoot said soothingly, trying to comfort the swimmer. "It's...It's all a part of the Great Circle of Life."

Donnie placed a hand on Littlefoot's shoulder and shook his head sadly. Now was not a good time to bring that up.

"Besides," Cera added in a comforting voice, "there's a whole nest full of eggs at home."

"Yes," Ducky sniffed as she sat down between the T-Rex's skeletonized claws, "but this one was special. It was going to be my favorite favorite. All blue and orange speckled, there was not another egg like it in the whole world."

The others gave Ducky looks of sympathy as Mikey was about to say something to try and comfort the little swimmer when a pearly white object above Ducky caught his attention.

"Wait a second." Mikey muttered as he walked over to it. He then knelt down and pulled out an egg that was nestled in the foot of the T-Rex skeleton.

"Guys, look what I found!" He exclaimed, a big grin on his face.

"THE EGG!" Ducky happily shouted.

Mikey gently laid the egg down over by the little swimmer as the others sighed in relief.

But as soon as Donnie saw it next to Ducky, he knew almost instantly that this wasn't the egg from Ducky's nest. It was far too big to be a saruolophus egg.

"Oh, hello, baby brother or sister!" Ducky said happily as she hugged the egg and nuzzled it. "Hey, you growed! This is going to be a very big baby brother or sister!"

"Well, at least we know it's safe." Cera sighed with relief.

"Now we just need to get it back to the nest." Leo stated.

Littlefoot's smile soon turned to a worried frown when he looked at Donnie.

Usually, the young long-neck could tell when there was something bothering his friends, but this time the purple clad turtle's emotion was unreadable. He wasn't smiling but nor was he frowning either. He was just staring blankly at the egg.

"Everything okay, Donnie?" Littlefoot asked.

"Huh?" Donnie said, snapping out of his light trance as he turned towards the young long-neck. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Raph asked as he started back towards the pass. "Let's get this egg back to it's nest."

"Yeah, I can't wait to tell the grown-ups how we saved the egg." Cera said excitedly as she followed.

"Yes, they no treat us like babies anymore." Petrie replied in a triumphant voice as he flew off the ground and after Cera and Raph.

The group slowly made their way to the opening with Donnie carrying the egg in his arms.

The purple clad turtle bit his lip as he looked back and forth between his friends and the egg. He wasn't going to say that this egg wasn't Ducky's and that eggs don't just grow on their own, but he didn't seem to have the heart to speak the truth. So instead, he kept his big mouth shut.

He and his brothers already made their friends feel awful twice in one day, and right now, he didn't want him and his brothers to lecture them again.

"_I just hope we did the right thing."_ Donnie thought to himself as he looked at the egg again and began to wonder what was really inside it.


	7. The Mysterious Egg

Chapter 7: The mysterious egg

It was nearly sunrise when the Gang got back to the nest. Ducky and Spike's mother and siblings were still asleep as they quietly approached the center of the nest.

Donatello carefully set the egg down on the ground and Ducky began to roll it to the nest. But as she approached it, she stopped short and let out an audible gasp.

"What is it, Ducky?" Leo asked quietly in confusion.

"Go on, Ducky." Littlefoot whispered. "Put it back."

"It IS back!" Ducky replied. "Look!"

The others quickly tip-toed up to the nest and gathered around it.

To their surprise and shock, all the eggs were still nestled together! And though they were slightly relieved that the stolen egg was back in the nest, they were left with one question:

If this wasn't one of Ducky's eggs, then whose was it?

* * *

A few minutes later, the Gang quietly snuck into the forest and set the strange egg nicely in a small clump of grass next to the Shell-former.

"So, if Ducky's egg was there all this time, who's egg was it?" Littlefoot asked.

"Well, it's possible that the struthiomimius we chased last night stole this egg." Donatello replied. "And we just happened to see them walking by Ducky's nest."

"Yeah, but that sounds way too convenient to be possible." Raphael stated.

"Do you know what kind of egg it is, Donnie?" Cera asked.

Donnie bent down and inspected the egg for moment, "I'm not really an expert on dinosaur eggs, but this one seems pretty big. Maybe it's a sauropod egg. Or a long-neck egg, as you would say, but I can't be certain." He then stood up and looked to the others, "I may have to run a few tests on it in the Shell-former."

"Well, either way, we won't know for sure until it hatches." Leo pointed out.

"Yes, then we can take it back to it's family!" Ducky cheerfully suggested.

"But who's gonna take care of it until it hatches?" Littlefoot questioned.

"Us, of course!" Cera gruffly stated. "After all, we're not babies."

"I don't know about this." Leo said as he began to walk away. "Maybe we should tell the adults."

"Oh, no!" Cera snapped as she ran in front of the blue clad turtle, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. "if they find out where we were, they'll put us back in our nests!" She said harshly. "We don't tell the grown-ups anything!"

Leo stared at Cera incredulously, out of all of her bad ideas, this one had to be the worst.

"Come on, Leo. What else are we supposed to do with it anyway?" Raph told him.

"Yeah, we'll take super good care of it, Leo, we will, we will!" Ducky added.

"Besides, if we call in the adults, they'll probably just make things worse." Donnie pointed out.

"C'mon, big bro. Can we please keep it? Besides, I've always wanted to be an uncle!" Mikey begged, giving the puppy-dog eyes.

Leo was silent for a moment before he finally sighed, "Alright, fine. I won't tell the adults."

"Promise?!" Cera said through her teeth as she forcefully got up in Leo's face as much as she could.

"Yes, I promise." Leo reluctantly replied.

"Good." Cera snorted. "Now let's get back home before anyone notices we're gone."

The others quietly ran off in their separate directions as the Turtles and Littlefoot walked back to the nest.

"Are we sure we can keep that promise?" Littlefoot tentatively asked. "I mean, I know it's a big risk."

"I don't know, Littlefoot." Leo shrugged. "I just hope we're doing the right thing."

"So do all of us." Donnie told him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

A few minutes later, the five soon found themselves back at Littlefoot's nest.

Exhausted and worn out, Littlefoot settled down on the ground next to his grandparents with the Turtles curling up next to him. The moment they found themselves comfortable, they almost instantly fell asleep, despite the sun's brilliant light now shining over the walls of the Great Valley.

However, their chance of good sleep was short-lived.

"Boys, it's time to get up. The Bright Circle is already rising into the sky." A gentle voice told them as they felt themselves being nudged by something.

Littlefoot and the Turtles all tiredly opened their eyes and looked up at Grandma Longneck, groaning and yawning as they rubbed the sleepiness out of their eyes.

* * *

At the base of the Great Wall, a small pile of rocks shook and toppled over with several crunches and crackles.

"Ugh," Strut groaned as he emerged from the rocks and clumsily walked a few paces, shaking his head, "I feel like a mountain fell on top of me."

"It did!" A muffled angry voice responded.

"Is that you, Ozzy?" Strut asked, looking around for his older brother. "Where are you?"

"You're standing on me!" Ozzy's voice replied angrily, his voice louder than before but still muffled.

Strut bent over and looked at the rock under his feet. He yelped in surprise when he saw a pair of yellow eyes glaring ferociously back at him through the shadows of the stones. He immediately jumped off as Ozzy emerged from the rocks, knocking him aside.

Ozzy shook his head to get rid of his dizziness before turning to his brother.

"Did you save the egg?" He asked gruffly.

The second the question was asked, Strut gulped nervously.

"Uh, the, uh, the egg?" Strut stuttered fearfully.

Ozzy shoved his snout into his face as he stared annoyingly at Strut.

Strut once again gulped nervously. How was he going to tell his older brother that he had lost the egg in the rockslide? He would be furious.

"Oh, you mean the egg!" Strut replied nervously as he tried to think of a good excuse. "Well..I don't..that is..I mean...uh...those kids! Yeah, that's it! Those kids did it! They stole our egg! The nerve!" He lied.

Ozzy leaned back, turning towards the Great Valley and glaring at the landscape as though he were about to murder it.

"They did, did they?" He growled lowly. "Well, they'll pay. And dearly!"

* * *

Leo took aim at a small fish in the river with a new bow and arrow he had crafted a few days ago. After patiently waiting a few moments, he released the arrow. He effectively made a clean shot as the arrow hit the fish directly. The arrow had a small rope tied to it, allowing Leo to reel it in.

After reeling it in, he took it over the small fire pit he and his brothers had set up and carefully placed it on a rock near the edge of the fire. Mikey simply sat on log holding a pizza slice on a stick over the fire, Donnie was playing games on his t-phone, and Raph was simply sculpting something from a small log with a tanto knife.

Leo handed the fish over to Raph, who began set aside the small log and began skinning the fish with his tanto knife. Once he got a nice chunk of it, he dumped the rest into the fire and gently placed the chuck of meat on a stick and held it over the fire to cook.

"So," A gruff voice suddenly came from behind them, "you decided to have fish again."

The Turtles expressions turned sour with irritation as they recognized the voice.

"What do you want this time, Topps?" Leo groaned, not even bothering to turn around to face the large grey triceratops.

"I saw smoke and I figured it was you." Topps replied with a stern frown. "So where's the rest of the fish?"

"Don't worry," Raph cynically replied as he turned towards the grey triceratops, "we didn't gut it this time. We all remember how you freaked out over that last time."

Topps growled slightly at that statement.

"I just took the right amount and threw the rest into the fire." Raph finished.

"Hmph," The elderly three-horn grunted, "you say you're all leaf-eaters and meat-eaters, yet you mainly eat fish and those other things you eat and never eat leafs."

"Hey! You leave pizza out of this!" Mikey snapped.

"We already told," Donnie replied, irritated and not even looking at Topps, "we're omnivores. We have to have meat in our diet if we want to get the nutrients we need to stay alive. Yet we also need to eat vegetation like fruits and vegetables because we can't eat leafs like you can."

"I still don't see why you should eat meat in our valley." Topps grumbled.

The Turtles all turned towards Topps with apathetic glares.

"Seriously, are you deaf? Or do we gotta go over this again?" Leo questioned.

The Triceratops growled at the blue clad turtle's comment.

"You do realize that I am bigger than all of you?" He angrily warned.

"Yeah, we're not blind." Leo replied sternly. "And you know that we saved your daughter's life."

Topps could only snort at the statement, having no argument against it.

"Now, is there something wrong or did you just come back to insult our diet again?" Donnie asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a question." Topps said. "Where's Cera?"

"She's probably with Littlefoot and the others as usual." Raph replied irritably.

"And why aren't you with them?" Topps gruffly asked. "Aren't the four of you and Littlefoot usually together?"

"We wanted to spare him and the others from watching us catch a fish." Mikey dully replied.

"Well, do you know where they are?" Topps asked again, becoming even more irritated.

"No." All four turtles collectively replied.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Leo replied.

The elderly triceratops huffed again before turning away and walking off, making the ground shake slightly with his heavy footsteps. The Turtles couldn't really make out what he was mumbling as he walked away from them. Although, knowing Topps, it was probably a nasty jab towards them.

Ever since they had met Cera's father, the Turtles had never really been on his good side, despite the fact that they had saved his daughter. He seemed like one of those stereotypical stubborn and grumpy old people who often complained a lot and were incredibly superstitious and judgmental.

The moment Topps found out they were all part meat-eater, he looked down on the Turtles and would make rather mean-spirited comments about their dietary needs. The Turtles couldn't help but find that kind of ironic, they were in a world where humans didn't exist and they could walk around on the surface freely, and yet there were still beings who thought of them as nothing but freaks of nature. However, the best they could do was just let his comments wash over them like a river over stone.

When the fish was done cooking, Raph carefully pulled the fish out of the fire and dowsed the fire with dirt. He then split some of the fish with his brothers as they each took a slice of pepperoni pizza to go with it.

As they ate, they all hoped that the kids were still keeping an eye on the egg.

* * *

Meanwhile, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were all standing around a nearby tree stump, just looking at the egg. Before the Turtles went to go get some lunch, they helped them find a secluded spot to keep the egg safe. They eventually found a small clump of trees with a moss-covered stump in the center.

Now the Gang was standing around the egg, waiting for something to happen.

"How long do we have to wait?" Cera casually asked.

"Gee, I don't know." Littlefoot shrugged. "Could be a long time."

Petrie glided over to the egg and crawled on top of it. "My mama sit on eggs to keep warm. Make hatch." He said as he tried to lay on top of the egg. "Me sit on egg."

However, the egg was at least four times the size of the little pteranodon. So it looked more like he was just hugging the egg. As Petrie shifted his position, the egg tipped over a smidge, making him scramble upright.

"I wonder what it's going to be." Cera inquisitively said. "A girl, I hope."

"Maybe it a flyer, like me!" Petrie said enthusiastically as he lighted off the egg and flew over to Spike, landing on his snout.

"Or a swimmer like me!" Ducky said happily as she leapt onto her stomach and made swimming motions.

"Hey," Littlefoot smiled as an idea came to his head, "why can't we be it's parents?"

The others were silent for a moment before they burst out laughing at the sound of this random idea.

"Don't be silly, Littlefoot." Cera grinned. "How can we be it's parents?"

"Well, we'll raise it." Littlefoot suggested. "Teach it stuff. It'll be fun!"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Ducky said as she lovingly hugged the egg. "I will be a very good mama, I will, I will!"

"We be good parents." Petrie confidently agreed.

Spike abruptly nodded, jostling Petrie a little.

"Well, I think I'll be the best parent." Cera proudly stated.

"Why's that, Cera?" Littlefoot asked.

"Because I'll let her do anything she wants." The young three-horn replied as she affectionately nuzzled the egg.

"Hmm, that sound good to me!" Petrie responded to the idea.

Ducky was about to say something when a certain voice interjected.

"You guys can't be serious."

The kids turned to the right to see the Turtles standing right in the open of the clearing.

"Guys," Littlefoot said, surprised, "how long have you all been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you talking about raising the hatchling." Leo answered as they walked forward towards them.

"Dudes, we get that you want to be on your own, but there's a reason why your parents say "no" from time to time." Mikey said.

"We know, we know." Cera groaned, rolling her eyes. "'It's because they care.' But c'mon, we defeated Sharptooth on our own, didn't we? How hard can raising a hatchling be?"

"Cera," Raph began as he sat down next to the stump, "raising a hatchling isn't the same as taking down a fully-grown, deranged T-Rex. That was a one time deal. Taking care of a hatchling is a full-time job."

"Not to mention it's a big responsibility that requires a lot of time and effort." Leo added.

"How would you guys know?" Cera asked, slightly irritated.

"Because it's a full-time job for us to keep you guys out of trouble." Raph replied sarcastically.

"Oh, snap! Burn!" Mikey said as the others either laughed or chuckled at the comment while Cera gruffly looked away.

"Besides that," Donnie said, his voice serious, "this hatchling obviously has a family, and we should return it to them."

"I guess you're right, Donnie." Littlefoot nodded. "We'll bring it home after it hatches, just so we know which family it belonged to."

The others nodded in agreement at the idea. Surely, it couldn't hurt to wait until after the egg hatched. It would save them the trouble of finding out who's nest it was taken from in the first place.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of waiting, the egg began to move.

"Look!" Ducky shrieked with excitement.

Everyone's attention was immediately focused on the squirming object. They watched unwaveringly as cracks snaked across the surface of the egg. Ducky even briefly put her ear up to it to hear for any life inside. Petrie flapped off Spike's snout and settled on the edge of the tree stump just as a single three-clawed foot kicked itself out.

"It's hatching, dudes." Mikey softly gasped.

The egg turned a bit as a short, triangular shaped tail popped out of the rear of the egg. The group felt their hearts beat in anticipation and they held their breath as all of the egg except the top part came off, revealing another three-clawed foot and a pair of skinny three-fingered arms. The last of the round shell covered it's head, furthering the suspense of what kind of dinosaur the hatchling was.

With the revelation of all of it's body so far, Donnie began to stir with uneasiness.

Then, a sudden horrifying realization came to him, hitting him like a freight train to the face.

"Oh no." Donnie muttered as he observed the body.

"What is it, Donnie?" Leo asked, not taking his eyes off the hatchling, though a bit nervous by his brother's sudden outburst.

The hatchling then gracefully threw the shell off of it's head and smiled down at Ducky, it's complete shape clear for all to see.

"That's no ordinary dinosaur," Donnie replied.

There was no mistake about what this hatchling was now. It wasn't a flyer. It wasn't a swimmer. And it most certainly wasn't a long-neck.

"It's - it's a - " Littlefoot stuttered with the realization dawning on everyone.

The hatchling opened it's mouth in greeting, revealing it's tiny pointed teeth, and a bolt of terror struck nearly everyone present.

"SHARP-TOOTH!" The kids screamed.


	8. Chomper

Chapter 8: Chomper

The five dinosaur children immediately sprinted away out of pure fear of the sharp-tooth hatchling. Ducky and Petrie scrambled away from the sharp-tooth, quickly catching up with Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike in their hasty retreat.

"SHARP-TOOTH!" Cera screamed as she bolted into the bushes with the other four children following.

"GUYS, WAIT!" Leonardo cried as he, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo quickly rushed after them.

However, a small, lonely whimper made the four turtles stop in their tracks.

They turned around and saw the baby T-Rex looking at them with it's big red eyes. There was still a smile on it's face, but there was a tinge of sadness was starting to come in.

It - he was alone, the Turtles realized. The little hatchling had only just come into the world and there was no one there for him. From the way he looked at them, the little hatchling seemed to shine with innocence.

The Turtles each glanced in the direction where their friends ran off before looking back at the hatchling. Cautious not to startle the baby T-Rex, the four ninja turtles slowly walked over to the hatchling.

Now that they were closer, they could distinctly make out his features better.

His skin was a light tone of purple, with his underbelly being a much paler shade. His feet were rather big with each having three claws. Oddly enough, the hatchling had three claws on each of his hands instead of two, with the third fingers looking like opposable thumbs. This hatchling was a T-Rex for sure, but why did he have three claws instead of two?

However, it was the reddish brownish eyes that caught the Turtles attention the most. They didn't look like the same eyes that they had seen when Shaprtooth attacked them. There was no rage, hatred, or malice, just.. pure childlike innocence.

Before they even knew what was happening, the little T-Rex chirped happily as it reached with it's small arms out to Leo, as if wanting him to pick him up.

* * *

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were in such a hurry to get away from the sharp-tooth hatchling that they didn't even notice Littlefoot screeching to a halt.

Littlefoot snapped his head back as the terrible realization that the Turtles were not with them. Without a moment of hesitation, he turned around and ran back to find his four friends.

The thought of a sharp-tooth having the four turtles as it's next meal was too much for him to bear. He just had to help them.

However, when he reached the clearing, he immediately came to a screeching halt in utter shock and confusion.

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were gathered around Leo who was _holding _the hatchling in his arms.

"Guys?!" The young long-neck gasped.

The Turtles looked towards Littlefoot, a little startled but they then smiled a bit.

"It's okay, Littlefoot." Leo said kindly. "He's actually pretty harmless."

Littlefoot, still rather shell-shocked, looked at the baby sharp-tooth with nervous eyes.

The hatchling had found a strange fascination with the Turtles masks as he was playfully pulling on Leo's mask tails, chirping and cooing happily as he did so. Leo, Donnie, and Raph couldn't help but chuckle as they felt a bit of nostalgia rising in their chests while Mikey simply giggled at how adorable the scene was.

Cautiously, Littlefoot walked forward and lowered his head to the little T-Rex's level. At first, the hatchling recoiled in slight fear as he saw the strange long-necked dinosaur.

"It's alright. I won't hurt you." Littlefoot said softly, his voice soothing and tender.

The sharp-tooth hatchling jerked back slightly, making Littlefoot wonder for a moment if he should have invaded the hatchling's personal space when the little tyrannosaur lifted out his tongue and affectionately licked Littlefoot on the cheek.

"Friendly, aren't you?" The young long-neck giggled as the lick was somewhat ticklish.

The hatchling squeaked happily as he gazed at Littlefoot with all the love that someone so young could have, and Littlefoot felt a powerful surge of affection as his heart melted. Up until now, he had always wondered why parents or guardians would be so mushy with their children, now he knew why. Was this how his mother thought of him? Was this how his grandparents as well as the Turtles mostly thought of him now?

"Aww, look at you!" Mikey cooed as picked up the baby T-Rex and began tickling his belly. "Cootchie-cootchie-coo!"

The sharp-tooth hatchling squealed happily as he squirmed in Mikey's arms. Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Littlefoot couldn't help but laugh a bit at the cute sight.

"Hey," Littlefoot said as he raised his head in realization, "I bet he thinks we're his family."

"Well, we may not be his real family," Donnie shrugged, "but we should still be able to take care of him for the time being."

The baby T-Rex chirped happily as he squirmed out of Mikey's arms, surprising the orange clad turtle. Almost immediately, the hatchling clumsily began to waddle over to Littlefoot, raising one leg.. and being unable to finish the stride as he flailed his little arms and fell over on to his belly.

The Turtles and Littlefoot winced, now remembering one of the most important parts of raising a child.

"I guess we better teach him how to walk first." Leo stated, with the others nodding in agreement.

The baby T-Rex lifted his head and sat up, looking at Littlefoot with sad eyes as he miserably groaned.

The more Littlefoot saw the emotions on this little carnivore's face, the more surprised he felt. Whenever he saw a sharp-tooth, (which was pretty rare now these days,) he always saw nothing but mindless rage and hunger. A creature that only seemed to think about it's next meal.

However, this sharp-tooth was different. The emotions he was showing were genuine and real. This hatchling wasn't mindless at all. Inside, Littlefoot shuddered. What could lead such sweet children into becoming such terrifying and brutal killing machines?

Littlefoot's thoughts were set aside as the hatchling sat back up, watching the Turtles and Littlefoot expectantly, already knowing a lesson was coming up.

"First, you lift one foot," Raph instructed with a bit of a smile as he lifted his right foot in demonstration, "and then you put it down in front of you." He gently placed his foot on the ground. "Then you lift the other and do the same, you got me?" He took a few slow steps before facing the little sharp-tooth. "Now you try it."

The baby T-Rex got to his feet again, succeeding in putting one foot in front of him. He then took another step, and another and another, waddling around like a toddler (which he very much was).

"There, see? You got this." Mikey said kindly as the hatchling continued to waddle. The hatchling started gaining speed as he waddled, still looking uncertain with operating these lower limbs.

"Slow down, you'll hurt yourself." Donnie cautiously warned.

The hatchling looked panicked and before the Turtles and Littlefoot could do anything, the hatchling took a wrong step and landed snout first in the dirt. Almost immediately, the Turtles and Littlefoot rushed to his side, concern expressions on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Littlefoot asked, concerned.

The hatchling lifted his head again, his smile gone as he looked down shamefully as a single tear fell down his cheek.

"Hey, it's okay." Leo said as he bent down and gently stroked the hatchling's back. "You just fell. You'll get it eventually."

The hatchling turned the blue clad turtle, looking up at him with a weak smile, making his face all the more adorable.

"You know, guys, he needs a name." Mikey said.

At that moment a dragonfly flew down and hovered over the hatchling's head. The hatchling's reddish brownish eyes seemed to brighten and gleam with excitement as he snapped at it with his jaws, making a 'chomping' sound. The dragonfly swerved out of the hatchling's bite and landed on a small blade of grass.

"I know," Littlefoot smiled, the hatchlings biting attempt giving him inspiration, "we'll call him Chomper."

"That's what I was gonna name him!" Mikey whined, only for Raph to smack him upside the head.

As if in response to Littlefoot's idea, the newly-christiened Chomper lived up to his namesake as his jaws snapped down on the dragonfly, breaking it's wings and making some kind of yellow fluid spew all over the baby T-Rex's maw. The Turtles cringed a bit and Littlefoot stepped back for a moment as they were reminded that they were dealing with a sharp-tooth. A sweet and innocent sharp-tooth, but a sharp-tooth nonetheless. However, their newfound fondness for Chomper didn't waver, but they quickly realized that their young charge had a particular need that they had to address.

"I guess...you're hungry, huh?" Littlefoot said hesitantly.

Chomper chewed and swallowed the dragonfly, licking his chops and gazing up innocently at Littlefoot. Once again, the honesty in Chomper's eyes made it impossible for the Turtles and Littlefoot to stay disturbed.

"Gee," Littlefoot cautiously stuttered, "I-I know what sharp-teeth like, but..."

"Well, to be more specific, he's a Tyrannosaurus Rex." Donnie compulsively stated.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Littlefoot sharply turned towards the purple clad turtle with a mildly worried face as the word struck up some bad memories. "Isn't that what you said...Sharptooth was?"

"Yeah," Donnie answered casually, "but just because they're the same species, that doesn't mean Chomper's like him."

"Yeah, Sharptooth was a mindless monster. And Chomper's kinda the opposite of that." Raph added.

"I..guess your right." Littlefoot glanced away for a moment. "Maybe we can teach him to eat leafs."

Leo bit back a smirk, "Littlefoot, he's a carnivore. He can't eat leafs like herbivores or even omnivores can."

"Well, there's no harm in trying." Littlefoot shrugged.

"I'm with Littlefoot on this." Mikey said confidently. "Besides, how hard can it be?"

The young long-neck and the orange clad turtle walked to nearby tree and grabbed a few branches with some leafs on them. Once they got them, the two of them walked over to Chomper and placed the branches down on the ground in front of him.

"Here, these leafs are really tasty. Try some." Littlefoot said.

"Yeah, delicious leafs!" Mikey added excitedly.

Curious, Chomper loudly bit one of the sticks and chewed, trusting Littlefoot and Mikey's word. His reddish-brown eyes turned skyward thoughtfully as more and more leafs vanished into his mouth.

Knowing it wasn't going to work, Leo began to silently count down from three on his fingers. The moment he hit 'one', Chomper suddenly spat out the stick of leafs in disgust with enough force to make him fall on his back. Chomper let out a "Blech!" as he spat the last of the leafs out of his mouth. The leafs had apparently seriously disagreed with the baby tyrannosaur's taste buds as Chomper glanced up at Littlefoot and the Turtles, as though he was currently doubting his guardians wisdom.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought." Littlefoot sighed, discouraged.

"I told you, he can't eat leafs." Leo simply repeated.

"So what do we do then?" Mikey asked.

Donnie thought for a moment. He knew theropods could digest meat, even at a young age. However, a young carnivore's main diet would usually consist of insects and other small things since they were much easier to break down.

That's when an idea came to him. There was another type of meat he would like.

"Maybe he'll like some fish." Donnie suggested.

"That could work." Littlefoot agreed. "But I think we're going to need some more advice. I'll see if I can get some from my grandparents."

"Alright, you go get some advice from your grandparents and we'll keep an eye on Chomper." Leo said.

"Also, you might not want to bring Chomper up in front of your grandparents." Raph advised. "I don't think they'd react well to hearing about a sharp-tooth in the Valley."

Littlefoot nodded in agreement. With the current situation, it was probably best to keep Chomper a secret for now.

"In the meantime, we'll be getting some food for Mr. Hungry, here." Mikey grinned.

"Right." Littlefoot said before lowering his head and affectionately nuzzling Chomper, who squeaked in delight.

"Now you stay with the Turtles, Chomper." The young long-neck smiled. "They'll keep you safe."

Chomper nodded happily as he made an affirming noise.

With that, Littlefoot set off down through the grove and down to the grassy meadow while the Turtles quietly took Chomper down to a small hidden river with some fish in it.

"If Cera ever finds out, she'll kill us." Littlefoot muttered as he raced towards where his grandparents were.

Still, Littlefoot was willing to take the risk. The dangers of raising a sharp-tooth were probably great, but Littlefoot didn't care so long as Chomper was content. Even in such a short time, Littlefoot was willing to do anything for the baby T-Rex to make him happy. And he was willing to stick with Chomper through thick and thin, no matter what happened.


	9. Some Key Advice

Chapter 9: Some key advice

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo couldn't help but chuckle fondly a little bit as Chomper quickly gobbled up the fish they had caught for him, not even leaving the skeleton behind. Boy, could that little sharp-tooth eat.

"You sure are hungry, aren't you?" Leo stated humorously.

Chomper looked up with innocent eyes and chirped happily with content.

As Chomper finally finished devouring the last of the fish, the Turtles couldn't help but wonder where Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were. They hadn't seen them at all ever since they had run away from Chomper. Still, they all inwardly hoped that they could convince the others that Chomper was friendly.

Chomper then waddled over to the Turtles and affectionately hugged Mikey's arm as he rubbed his face against it.

"Aww, your so cute!" Mikey said cheerfully as he gently patted the baby T-Rex on the head, who cooed with delight.

For a while now, the four brothers were kind of having a hard time believing that this adorable little thing was the same kind of dinosaur that had pursued them and their friends when they first arrived in this dimension. However, there seemed to be a major difference between Sharptooth and Chomper. And it seemed to certainly more than the fact that Chomper was an infant.

However, their thoughts on the two were interrupted when they heard the sound of two voices talking not far away from them.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Threehorn." The first one said with the voice of a young man.

The Turtles whipped their heads in the direction the voice came from.

"Afternoon." Topps' voice shortly followed after.

"It's Topps!" Mikey cried fearfully before Donnie slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Have you seen the young ones?" They heard the old three-horn ask.

"Well, I saw those four shell-backs go down that way earlier. Maybe they met up with the other children." The other voice replied.

"Thank you."

A few minutes later, the ground began to shake beneath them, each tremor getting stronger and louder by the second. The Turtles eyes widened in horror and their faces paled with the terrifying realization that Topps was headed their way! And if he saw Chomper...

Without a moment of hesitation, Raph quickly grabbed Chomper as the Turtles jumped into the thick bushes. The Turtles sudden action surprised Chomper, causing the baby sharp-tooth to squeak as he squirmed in the red clad turtle's arms.

The next thing Raph knew, he felt something clamp down on his finger and a sharp pain run up it.

"Yea-ouch!" He cried as he accidentally let go of Chomper, letting him fall onto a small bush, slightly rattled by Raph's action. He looked up to see the other three turtles gathered around Raph, whom was gripping his finger with his face twisted in minor pain.

"Hold still, Raph. Let me look at it." Donnie told him as he grabbed Raph's wrist and looked at the injured finger. He looked at the finger and noticed a few bite marks on it. The Turtles then looked towards Chomper and saw a bit of blood on his sharp teeth.

It took only a second for them to realize that Chomper must have accidentally bitten Raph.

Chomper whimpered as he looked down in shame after seeing the bite on Raph's finger. The Turtles looked at the sharp-tooth hatchling with sympathy, they knew that he hadn't meant to do it.

"Hey, it's okay, Chomper." Raph said tenderly as he gently stroked Chomper's back. "I'll be fine."

"CERA!" Topps' voice called from close by.

Startled, Raph grabbed Chomper again as the Turtles ducked down into the bushes again, this time making sure that they were out of sight (and so that Chomper didn't accidentally bite anyone again).

"Chomper, you have to be quiet, okay?" Leo told him in a hushed tone.

Sensing the blue clad turtle's urgency, Chomper quickly shut his mouth and huddled closely to Donnie. Leo carefully peeked through the bushes and saw Topps standing just a little ways off.

Leo bit his lip as the elderly triceratops surveyed the area, silently prayed that Topps wouldn't look or come their way.

After what felt like several minutes, Topps let out a small grunt before marching away. Leo sighed quietly with relief before going back down below the bushes.

"He's gone." Leo reported. "That was too close."

As Chomper squirmed in Raph's arms, Donnie looked closer at the bite mark and frowned.

"We better do something about this before the others see it." He said aloud. "If they see it, they'll probably freak out."

After carefully putting Chomper down, Raph held out his finger as Donnie pulled his med-kit out of his belt. Donnie opened the med-kit and began to bandage Raph's bitten finger.

Once he finished, the four turtles looked back at Chomper, who had a sad look on his face as he looked down in shame.

"Hey, it's okay, Chomper." Raph said with a reassuring smile as he gently patted Chomper's head, unable to be mad at the baby T-Rex. "It was just an accident."

"Yeah, we all know you didn't mean it." Mikey added.

"Besides, it doesn't look that bad." Donnie put in.

Leo then leaned closer to Chomper, "Tell you what, we'll just keep this between the five of us, okay? It'll be our little secret."

Chomper's frown turned into a small smile as he glanced up at the Turtles, who smiled back at him.

* * *

Littlefoot quickly ran through the bushes, feeling his feet sink into soft earth as he approached the edge of the pond where his grandparents were grazing on the water greens below the surface. Knowing that the Turtles were waiting for him with Chomper, he had decided to get some basic information on taking care of infants in order to better take care of Chomper.

"Um, Grandma, Grandpa, can I talk to you for a moment?" Littlefoot tentatively asked.

The two elderly apatosaurus' lifted their heads out of the water, with Grandma Longneck still munching on some water greens.

"Of course, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck nodded. "What is it?"

"Well, um.." The young long-neck paused for a moment as he thought over what he should ask. "I wanna know about babies."

Both Grandpa and Grandma Longneck were quite taken aback by their young grandson's question as they looked to each other in confusion. Why on earth would Littlefoot want to know something like that?

"Littlefoot," Grandma Longneck lightly scolded, lowering her head to his level, "you're too young to be worrying about babies."

"Well...it's..uh...it's just that...I'm curious." Littlefoot stuttered a tad nervously.

He of course remembered what Raph said about not mentioning Chomper, so he had to quickly think of a pretty good excuse without bringing up the baby tyrannosaur. Although the way his grandparents were looking at him was making him feel rather small and awkward.

"Alright," His grandmother sighed, "what would you like to know?"

"Um...how do babies get enough to eat?" The young long-neck asked, treading carefully on his words.

"The grown-ups find food for them, of course." Grandma Longneck replied.

"But what if they won't eat what you give them?" Littlefoot asked, remembering how Chomper spat out the leafs he had given him.

"You wouldn't always eat what we gave you." Grandpa Longneck said.

"I didn't?" Littlefoot asked in surprise.

"That's right." The elderly male long-neck replied. "But when you got hungry enough, you always ate."

"I did?"

"Uh-huh." Grandpa Longneck nodded.

"All babies eat when they're hungry, Littlefoot." Grandma Longneck explained. "Now, is there anything else you would like to know?"

Littlefoot stood there, silently thinking for a moment before finally deciding that the information he had just been given was enough to go on for now.

"No, that's good." He replied, shaking his head. "Thanks, bye!"

With that, the young long-neck turned around and raced back into the forest.

"Kids, they want to grow up so fast." Grandpa Longneck chuckled.

"Yes," Grandma Longneck smiled, "and once they do, they wish they were young again."

The two elderly long-necks shared a warm laugh as well as an affectionate cuddle before going back to eating some more water greens.

* * *

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike soon found themselves nervously walking back to the place where the sharp-tooth hatched. It had only been a few minutes ago when they had realized that both the Turtles and Littlefoot were missing and decided to go back to look for them.

They soon reached the spot where they had last seen them, but all they found were pieces of eggshell on the stump.

"I don't see the guys anywhere." Cera said in concern.

Petrie flew over to the log and landed among the pieces of eggshell as he dropped his shoulder and sat down with a miserable expression.

"Maybe sharp-tooth eat them." He said sorrowfully.

Upon hearing that, everyone looked woefully at the stumper, with Cera looking down at the ground, Ducky sniffling as tears built up in her eyes, and Spike let out a sad groan. The thought of their friends getting eaten was just too much for them to swallow.

However, their moment of lament was soon interrupted by an angry voice.

"Well, well, if it isn't the grass grazers who spoiled our supper."

The four dinosaur children looked up and gasped in fear as they saw the two struthiomimus from last night standing right in front of them, gazing down at them with wicked smiles.

"It is the egg-stealers!" Ducky shrieked.

"W-what we do?!" Petrie stuttered fearfully.

"RUN!" Cera shouted.

The four children quickly dashed into the forest with Ozzy and Strut quickly gaining on them.

"Where's my egg, you rotten little sprout crunchers?!" Ozzy roared as he and his brother chased after them.

* * *

"Leo! Raph! Donnie! Mikey! Chomper! Where are you guys?!"

Littlefoot had quickly gotten back to the last place he saw the Turtles and Chomper, only to find that the area by the tree stump was completely abandoned. He then tried his luck down by the river since he remembered that the Turtles were going to catch some fish for the little T-Rex to eat.

He frowned in disappointment when he saw that they weren't there either.

"Where could they have gone?" He said, pensive. He then took a bit of a deep breath to calm himself, "I guess I shouldn't worry too much since Chomper's with the Turtles. I know they'll keep him out of harms way. But still, I wish I knew where they were."

It was at that moment that Littlefoot heard a high pitched scream. He sharply looked in the direction it was coming from and gasped in horror as he saw Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike on the edge of a cliff, trapped by the two egg-stealers they had encountered last night!

"Hold on, guys! I'm coming!" Littlefoot shouted as he sprinted off towardsthe base of the cliff to help his friends.

* * *

The Turtles, wanting to explore the Valley with Chomper, soon found themselves at the edge of a small quicksand pit. Since they were all concerned for Chomper's safety, they made sure to keep him sheltered within the forest.

Still, that didn't mean it wasn't hard to handle the little rascal.

Chomper chirped happily as he trotted alongside the Turtles. But soon, the quicksand got his attention as he wandered towards it, his eyes glittering with curiosity.

Leo looked over just in time to see Chomper about to step into the muck.

"Chomper!" He exclaimed as he ran over and scooped up the baby tyrannosaur, who squeaked in surprise. Leo quickly backed away from the quicksand before gently putting Chomper down.

"You have to stay away from that." Leo told him, pointing to the quicksand.

"Yeah, that's quicksand." Donnie explained as he and the others walked up towards Chomper. "If you step in it, it'll pull you down and you won't be able to get out."

Chomper looked up at the Turtles and whimpered again. And again, those innocent eyes made it impossible for the four brothers to lecture him any further.

"It's okay, Chomper." Mikey smiled. "Just remember to be careful, okay?"

The sharp-tooth hatchling nodded in response, making a squeaky sound that came out as a "uh huh", making the Turtles chuckle and laugh a bit.

Suddenly, the five of them heard the sounds of screaming as a little voice shrieked, "HELP US!"

The Turtles and Chomper turned sharply towards the direction of the voices as they tensed up.

"It's the kids!" Raph yelled when they saw the two struthiomimus they had chased last night having cornered Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike at the edge of a cliff. At the same time, they could also see Littlefoot running up the path towards his friends.

"They need our help!" Raph stated. "Come on!"

Mikey quickly picked up a confused Chomper as the four turtles immediately ran to their friend's rescue, hoping that they would arrive in time.


	10. One of Us

Chapter 10: One of us

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike fearfully backed away as Ozzy and Strut continued to close in on them. Pretty soon, they found themselves stuck at the edge of the cliff.

There was nowhere for them to run. They were trapped.

"Now," Ozzy growled lowly, "what did you do with my egg?!"

"YOUR egg?! Cera cried. "We didn't do anything to it! It hatched!"

"It... HATCHED?!" The older egg-stealer shouted, enraged. "Before I could eat it, my egg hatched?!"

"C-C-Calm down, Ozzy." Strut suddenly spoke up, sounding quite nervous as he did. "I-It was just an egg."

Ozzy whipped around to his brother with a rather nasty expression on his face. "Just an egg?" He repeated lowly. "It was not just an egg, it was our DINNER!" He yelled before whacking his tail against Strut's head.

Ozzy then turned his attention back to the kids, who cowered in fear as he towered over them.

"I'm warning you, you little leaf-lickers!" He told them in a threatening tone. "Stay out of my way, or I'll-"

"Leave my friends alone!"

Ozzy and Strut quickly stood up straight and whipped around to see where the sudden voice came from. The four dinosaur children looked in the same direction and their faces lit up with joy when they saw who had spoken out in their defense.

"Littlefoot!" Cera cried.

"We are saved!" Ducky said in relief.

Littlefoot scowled as he glared at the two egg-stealers who dared to try and hurt his friends. He planted his feet firmly in the ground as he arched his back a little and lowered his head just enough so the egg-stealers would know that he wasn't fooling around. If those two morons wanted to hurt his friends, they'd have to go through him first.

However, Ozzy wasn't even fazed by the young long-neck's show of bravery, in fact, he found it quite amusing. A weak, defenseless little hatchling trying to be strong. How noble of him.

"Just what I can't stand," He said as he turned around and walked towards Littlefoot, talons extended, "a bossy weed-whacker!"

The sturthiomimus advancing on him was not what Littlefoot had expected or hoped. The closer Ozzy got to him, the more the young long-neck realized that he didn't have much to defend himself with. No swords, sais, nunchucks, staffs, horns, or claws. In fact, all he had was his tail and his long neck. But at the moment, neither of them would do him any good since his neck was too vulnerable and his tail was too short to attack.

His bravery now faltering and now being replaced by fear, Littlefoot slowly backed away from the approaching egg-stealer. However, his back right leg landed on a small stone that slipped out from under his foot, causing him to fall over onto his side. He looked up and gave a quiet gasp as he saw Ozzy was too close for him to get up in time.

However, before Ozzy could scratch Littlefoot's side, he felt something hard hit him in the face, knocking him back. Ozzy shook his head in pain as Strut yelped as he backed up a few paces.

"Booyakasha!"

Ozzy stood up and looked to see the same four strange creatures from last night. Littlefoot whipped his head around and smiled joyfully when he saw who it was.

"Guys!"

The Turtles stood together in a complete formation, each in a martial arts poses as they all, minus Mikey, glared at the two egg-stealers.

"Alright, let them go!" Leo told them. "You don't want any trouble."

"We, on the other hand, do!" Raph added with an eager grin.

"Whoa," Strut gasped, "those stories were true, Ozzy! There really are four giant turtles in the Valley!"

"You've heard of us?" Mikey asked, surprised. He then grinned and turned to his brothers, "Dudes, we're famous!"

"That's bad!" Donnie told him.

"Oh." Mikey replied, his grin disappearing. "Also, is it just me, or does that guy kinda sound like you, Donnie?" He asked the purple clad turtle, pointing at Strut. Raph simply smacked Mikey upside the head to shut him up.

Ozzy's eyes narrowed in the four creatures. Something about them was so familiar. Their appearance, their weapons, their voices...

"YOU!" Ozzy angrily pointed. "You were the ones who pulled that nasty purple mist trick on us in the cavern!"

"Yeah, that was us!" Raph impishly grinned, holding back a laugh. "And you should've seen the looks on your faces!"

"Why you insolent little..." Ozzy paused for a moment, screwing his face up.

"What's the matter?" Leo taunted. "Can't come up with a clever nickname for us?"

Ozzy scowled even harder as he leapt over Littlefoot, allowing the young long-neck to get up and run past Strut as he met up with his friends.

"Whatever you are, these children are ours." Ozzy told them, not backing down. "Now stand aside and go back to whatever pond you came from."

"Actually, we're freshwater turtles." Donnie corrected as he began to go into full sciency-mode. "I suspect that we're derived from the diamondback terrapin, but it's possible we're a common box-"

"Get them!" Ozzy shouted as he and Strut charged towards the Turtles.

Ozzy charged towards Leo, swiping at him with his talons, but Leo easily dodged them and kicked the egg-stealer in the stomach before Mikey jumped on Leo's shell and spin-kicked Ozzy in the head.

Strut, although hesitant, charged at Donnie who smoothly dodged Strut's swings before kneeing him in the belly as Raph came in and punched Strut across the face.

The fight was rather one-sided as the two egg-stealers kept trying to fight the Turtles, only for them to easily beat them down again and again without breaking a sweat.

"You guys give up yet?" Raph asked as the Turtles stood above the two egg-stealers who were on the ground beaten and bruised while the Turtles were without a scratch.

Ozzy was the first to slowly get up as he gave the Turtles a poisonous glare.

"Blast you freaks!" Ozzy yelled as he and Strut stood up and got ready to attack again. The Turtles all collectively rolled their eyes and got into fighting stances again ready to give them another beat down when suddenly, a huge shadow cast over the cliff just above the group.

"Guys, behind you!" Cera screamed.

Everyone looked up to see and the giant silhouette of a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the wall, roaring and growling as it seemed to get closer. The giant shadow snapped it's jaws viciously, making a loud chomping sound that echoed through the ravine below.

"SHARP-TOOTH!" The five dinosaur children screamed in fear.

"SHARP-TOOTH!" The two egg-stealers also screeched, hugging each other out of fear.

The Turtles silently smirked to themselves as they knew who was really casting the shadow.

The next they knew, Ozzy and Strut darted towards the edge of the cliff, leaping over the children as they fell down into the canyon below. Littlefoot and the others watched as they tumbled down the rocky slope and disappeared in a cloud of dust. However, their biggest concern as of now was the large shadow advancing on them.

To their surprise though, the Turtles didn't look frightened at all. They didn't even draw their weapons or be on alert anymore. Instead, they all burst out laughing.

"Oh, man!" Raph hooted as he held his stomach slightly. "And I thought we gave them the biggest scare, but that was just hilarious!"

"Guys!" Littlefoot shouted in worry. "There's a sharp-tooth behind you!"

The four turtles simply looked back to the kids, who had perplexed and fearful expressions.

"Oh, don't worry, guys." Mikey said cheerfully. "This one's on our side."

"Huh?" Was all the kids could say.

Donnie then turned back to the giant shadow, "Come on out, Chomper!" He called.

A few seconds later, the small purple T-Rex hatchling came running out from behind the rocks towards the a Turtles. Mikey laughed as he bent down and scooped up Chomper in his arms, hugging him close. Chomper returned the gesture by hugging the orange clad turtle around the neck and rubbing his face against his, squeaking in delight as Leo, Donnie, and Raph all laughed as they gently patted Chomper's head.

"Chomper!" Littlefoot smiled, running over from his spot.

"Chomper?" Cera questioned in confusion. "What's a 'chomper'?"

"It is his name, silly!" Ducky giggled.

"You did good, little buddy." Leo complimented with a smile as he stroked Chomper's head, who purred happily. Mikey then set Chomper down as Littlefoot approached them.

Chomper looked up to see Littlefoot right in front of him as the young long-neck gratefully nuzzled him, causing the little tyrannosaur to giggle in delight as he hugged Littlefoot's snout.

"See, you guys?" Littlefoot said as he looked back to the others. "Chomper's a nice T-Rex. He would never hurt us."

The baby sharp-tooth looked around and cooed in delight at the new faces as he walked up to the other dinosaur children, wagging his tail happily. Upon seeing his adorable innocence and happiness, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike couldn't help but smile too.

"Thanks, Chomper." Cera said.

"You are so nice, Chomper. You are, you are." Ducky happily added.

"Me like you, Chomper." Petrie said as he walked up to the little sharp-tooth.

Littlefoot and the Turtles all smiled, happy to see that their friends were giving Chomper a chance.

However, Littlefoot quickly noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was something with a tannish color wrapped around Raph's finger.

"Raph, what happened to your finger?" He asked.

Caught off guard by the question, the Turtles' eyes all widened slightly as Raph quickly covered it up. They had forgotten about the bandage for a bit, and if they told them that Chomper bit Raph, even if it was an accident, they would all be more than likely afraid of him.

"Oh, uh.." Raph stammered slightly as tried to come up with a believable story. "I.. just scratched myself on a branch while we were taking Chomper exploring through the Valley. Nothing serious, though." He lied with Leo, Donnie, and Mikey all nodding in confirmation.

Quickly wanting to change the subject, Leo cleared his throat before gesturing to the others.

"Chomper, this is Cera,"

The yellow triceratops nodded.

"this is Spike,"

The forest green stegosaurus smiled proudly.

"Petrie,"

The little pteranodon waved his wing.

"and Ducky."

The little parasaurolophus walked up to Chomper, greeting him with open arms.

"Hi, Chomper." Ducky said cheerfully. "I think you're very cute!"

The little T-Rex happily waddled into Ducky's embrace, gently squealing.

"Looks like we have a new member of our herd." Cera said proudly.

"Which means we can be best friends by and by!" Petrie said excitedly. "Me could teach him to fly!"

"What about water?" Ducky asked. "I could take him for a swim."

"Whoa, slow down, guys." Littlefoot quickly said. "Remember, he's still a baby."

"Besides, T-Rex's can't fly." Raph pointed out.

"Well, he can still hang around with us." Cera said.

"Yeah," Leo smiled, "because we're his family. And he's one of us now."

Chomper looked back up at Leo and wandered over to him. The blue clad turtle knelt down and smiled kindly as the little tyrannosaur hugged his arm and rubbed his face against it.

"Let's celebrate!" Ducky joyfully shouted as she began dancing, causing the others to laugh and cheer before some of them even joined in.

However, their moment of laughter and happiness didn't last long.

When Cera stopped to catch her breath, she felt a sharp pain clamp down on her tail.

"AUGH!" She screamed in pain. "HE BIT ME! CHOMPER BIT ME!"

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing as they looked in shock and horror to see Chomper biting down on Cera's tail with his teeth.

"Chomper, no!" Donnie scolded as he quickly pulled the baby T-Rex off of Cera's tail, startling the little sharp-tooth.

"I-I'm sure he didn't mean it." Littlefoot quickly said.

"You call THIS not meaning it?!" Cera said angrily as she gestured to the bite mark on her tail.

Chomper looked up and saw the horrified faces staring at him, and his expression dramatically changed to sadness as Donnie set him down. He looked at the group sadly for a moment before walking over to Littlefoot. He then pitifully whimpered something that almost sounded like 'what did I do?'

"A sharp-tooth can never be one of us!" Cera angrily said as she marched up to the young long-neck. "NEVER!"

"Don't say that!" Littlefoot countered.

"You know it's true!" Cera scowled. "He has to go!"

"No!" Littlefoot shouted. "He stays!"

Cera, still frightened about the situation and not thinking clearly about her actions, rammed the side of her head against Littlefoot's chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"He goes!" She growled.

"He stays!" Littlefoot retorted by ramming into Cera.

"Oh, not again." Leo muttered, pinching the bridge between his nose as Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all collectively groaned. Once again, this was a conflict they were going to have to resolve.

Meanwhile, Ducky slowly approached Chomper, who seemed confused and hurt about the situation.

"Chomper, you did not mean to bite Cera, did you?" The little swimmer asked. "Huh? Huh?"

Chomper looked at Ducky with shameful eyes, giving a bit of a shrug as he looked down a little.

"I do not think he knows." Ducky said.

"Alright, guys, break it up!" Raph commanded as he marched in to stop the fight between Littlefoot and Cera.

Before the two children could ram into each other, Raph quickly grabbed each of them. However, as he caught them, Cera's horn got caught on the band-aid on his finger. As Raph pushed them apart, the band-aid ripped off his finger and fell to the ground.

The fight between Littlefoot and Cera did stop, but not in the way the Turtles wanted to. And now, the situation had just gotten worse.

Cera looked up and gasped when she saw the bite marks on Raph's finger.

"THAT looks more like a BITE mark than a scratch to me, Raph!" She cried.

Pretty soon, everyone was staring at Raph's wounded finger. Chomper, who was now starting to feel even more guilty, rushed over to the Turtles as Leo bent down and picked him up.

"No, wait! It's not what you think!" Leo exclaimed.

"Yeah, it wasn't his fault!" Mikey added.

"I startled him and he just bit me by mistake!" Raph explained.

"But he still bit you, didn't he?!" Cera pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but-" Donnie started.

"Guys, open your eyes!" The young three-horn shouted. "We can't keep him, and that's final!"

"But... but Cera, he's just a baby!" Littlefoot pleaded, tears filling his eyes. "He needs us!"

The Turtles looked down at Chomper with shameful eyes. Although Cera wasn't being very fair to Chomper, they had to admit that she was right about one thing: they couldn't keep Chomper here in the Valley. Not because he was a threat to them, but because they couldn't provide the proper care he needed. He needs a T-Rex family to teach him how to properly be a T-Rex.

But as Chomper clutched Leo for comfort, the Turtles all felt painful jabs in their chests. They had only known him for a few hours and hadn't even said goodbye, yet they were already feeling the pain of letting him go.

"But what if he try to eat us?!" Petrie fearfully asked aloud.

"Petrie!" Donnie scolded as Leo, Raph, and Mikey all glared at him, causing the little pteranodon to shrink down a little.

Seeing the situation now, Littlefoot began frantically thinking of a solution to this whole panic. The very thing that he and the Turtles were fearing was happening and there was almost nothing he could do about it. With fear and tension rising in the group, the young long-neck's first instinct was to try and fix the problem that started the situation. Maybe if Chomper realized the situation, he would understand and change for the better.

"Don't you see, Chomper?" He said sadly to the little T-Rex, who looked at him with teary eyes. "You can't be a sharp-tooth. Sharp-teeth aren't allowed in the Valley."

"Littlefoot! How can you say that?!" Leo questioned in disbelief, not believing that Littlefoot had just said that.

Chomper couldn't believe it either as he stared at the young long-neck, tears now flowing down his face, and Littlefoot quickly realized that instead of making it better, he had just made things even worse.

Not knowing what else to do, Chomper jumped out of Leo's arms and began to back away from the group.

"Chomper, wait!" Littlefoot pleaded. "I-I didn't mean to..."

Before Littlefoot could stop him, Chomper turned away and ran off into the Valley.

"Chomper, wait!" Mikey cried as he, Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Littlefoot were about to go after him.

"Uh, guys," Ducky sheepishly spoke up, halting the Turtles and Littlefoot in their tracks, "maybe before you bring Chomper back, you should think about it. Chomper is... different than us. He is, he is."

Anger rose Turtles and Littlefoot's chests when Ducky said that. They had warmed up to Chomper, were totally willing to accept him as a friend, and now they were just turning their backs on him?

"At least we're not being total jerks like you guys!" Mikey snapped as he, Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Littlefoot all glared at the group who gasped in shock.

"We don't care if he's different!" Littlefoot said with conviction. "We should at least follow him to make sure he doesn't get hurt!"

"And we don't care what you say about him!" Donnie told them. "We are NOT turning our backs on him like all of you are!"

"We're going after him, with or without you!" Raph stated before they ran off.

"You guys do what you want, but we're going after him." Leo also stated. "Unless you want to try and stop us, I suggest you all come along!"

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked to each other, contemplating what they should do.

Hesitantly, the others set out running after Littlefoot and the Turtles.

* * *

The sun was in the middle of the sky as two massive T-Rexes trudged through the canyons. One was a large green skinned male while the other was orangish-brownish female.

The two Tyrannosaurs took heavy sniffs as they followed a trail of scents of rocks up to the Great Wall. Cautiously, the male tyrannosaur walked up the path with his mate and discovered that the passage led them into another canyon. They continued through it before they found themselves looking upon a lush, green land.

The two Tyrannosaurs growled to each other in what seemed like an ineligible conversation before they stomped towards the Great Valley, their intentions unknown.

And unknown to the Turtles and their dino friends, things were about to get a lot more difficult.

**Hey, guys! Calmoose here! I read a review TheWriterForGod42 about how last chapter was written ****similarly to Elise Lowing's story. And I will admit that I was heavily inspired by the story and I really do apologize if it is too similar. So to avoid flames and stuff, I will try to make things in the next chapter more different and original if I can. **

**P.S, if any of you didn't know, Donnie and Strut are both voiced by Rob Paulsen!**


	11. Saving a Friend

Chapter 11: Saving a Friend

A few minutes after the Gang had raced down the cliff to find Chomper, Ozzy and Strut began to climb up the face of the cliff. Both of them were even more bruised and scratched up from their tumble down the ravine, as well as having several vines tangled around their arms, legs, and tails.

After nearly an hour of slipping on rocks and struggling to keep hold on the vines dangling from the cliff-side, the two finally managed to hoist themselves up and over the edge.

"Next time, we look before we leap." Ozzy gruffly panted as the two stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"You think the sharp-tooth finished those kids off, Ozzy?" Strut asked tiredly as he lay down on the hard ground.

"Let's hope so." Ozzy grumbled as he untangled the vines off his body.

The memory of those blasted shell-backs standing their ground against him made him scowl deeply. And it made him scowl even more so when they beat him and Strut down with hardly any effort at all. It seemed he had greatly underestimated them as they were certainly a force to be reckoned with.

But if that sharp-tooth from before had eaten them and those meddling kids, then Ozzy was grateful that he wouldn't have to deal with them again.

"Come on, let's get ourselves an egg to eat." He said as he and Strut started back to the Great Valley.

* * *

The Turtles and the kids had been wandering through the thick forests for about an hour now. Searching for Chomper had not been an easy task, especially in the forest.

Thankfully, as they searched, they soon came across a trail of small three toed foot prints in the soft earth.

"These are Chomper's tracks alright." Donatello stated as he knelt down and inspected the foot prints.

"Then come on." Leo said as the group hurried along. "We've got to find him before someone else spots him."

The group nodded as they set out. Though it was quite ridiculous how Chomper, who much smaller than them, had managed to get so far ahead of them in such a short amount of time. Which was rather incomprehensible as they had narrowly outrun Sharptooth, who was an adult sharp-tooth for crying out loud, and Chomper was just a baby.

As their thoughts wandered back to Sharptooth again, the Turtles and Littlefoot couldn't help but grimace a little as they realized that maybe they had been too rough on the others.

Sure, Cera may have overreacted a bit, but could they really blame her? After all, she, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike had all been taught that carnivores like Chomper were only vicious, mindless killers. Not to mention, that they were even chased by one all the way to the Great Valley. And they knew that no matter what they did, someday, Chomper was going to have to eat meat to survive.

The Turtles and Littlefoot quickly brushed those thoughts from their minds. Regardless of what they thought, Chomper was still just a baby, a T-Rex baby, but a baby no less. And someone had to look after him for the time being. After all, he was one of them now.

"Chomper!" Littlefoot called. "Chomper!"

"Chomper, come out!" Raph yelled.

"We're not gonna hurt you, Chomper! We wanna help!" Mikey added.

"Where are you?!" Cera cried.

"Chomper!" Petrie called.

"Come on out, Chomper!" Donnie shouted.

"Chomper, come out!" Leo called. "We'll find a safe place for him to stay."

The group continued to walk through the forest in silence, though they would occasionally call out Chomper's name.

After another hour of searching, the group was quickly beginning to feel tired, hungry, and thirsty. But despite that, they pressed on, determined to find their new friend at just about any cost.

As they continued, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike couldn't help but feel guilty about judging Chomper by his kind, Cera especially. She actually remembered after the Turtles had told them that they were omnivores how when the kids had had that silent conversation, she had originally voted to cast them out from their herd because they ate meat.

* * *

_"Look, we get it." Leo said sternly to the panicked and skeptical kids. "You don't trust us, and you have every reason not to, but we would never do anything to harm you."_

_He then pulled out his katanas and thrust them into the ground before stepping back away from them. The other turtles followed suit by taking out their weapons and dropping them on the ground, much to the kids' surprise._

_"There, no weapons, no nothing." Raph gruffly stated. "Take it as a sign of trust and friendship. And if that's not good enough for ya, then what is?"_

_"Yeah!" Mikey cried. "Just give us a chance! Please?" He begged with his puppy dog eyes._

_The kids looked to __each other hesitantly before they turned away from the Turtles and went into a small huddle._

_"I think we should let them stay." Littlefoot whispered._

_The other kids looked towards him in surprise. __Had he lost his mind? __Why was he so open to letting the Turtles stay, even though they also ate meat?_

_"But, Littlefoot," Ducky shyly spoke up, "you heard what they said."_

_"I know what they said!" Littlefoot sharply __replied, causing Ducky to flinch a bit. He then took a small breath before continuing, "But that doesn't matter. Shouldn't their actions speak more than their diets? Don't forget, they helped bring us together, they helped us get food, and they've helped get this far. After all they've done for us, we can't just turn our backs on them."_

_"Think about it, long-neck." Cera said in a snoot tone. "Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey are different from us." She then turned her head slightly back at the Turtles and glared contemptuously at them. "Too different, for that matter."_

_"That doesn't matter!" Littlefoot forcefully rebuked. "They may not be dinosaurs, but they are all still living creatures with feelings, and we should respect that!" He then stood tall and firm. "And unless you have any other reasons to make them leave, then I say they're staying." He stated with strong conviction._

_Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked to each other for a few moments. Littlefoot had made some very valid points, the Turtles had helped them throughout much of this journey, collecting food and giving them a place in their herd despite being different species. The Turtles had also done nothing to harm them. They had even thrown their weapons away as a sign of trust for crying out loud! Maybe they should trust them._

_Cera, of course, grimaced. We're they seriously considering just letting those four shell-backs stay in their herd, even though they were all part meat eaters? Although she didn't like the idea of traveling with four strange shell-backs, especially since they were all meat eaters, it did sound better than just wandering aimlessly in the landscape alone._

_As the others looked __expectantly at her, Cera let out a frustrated huff, "Fine, we'll let them stay." She begrudgingly said. "But if they make even one small move to turn us into meals, they're on their own."_

_"So it's agreed then?" Littlefoot asked. Ducky, Petrie, and Spike all __immediately nodded in agreement, with Cera reluctantly also nodding her head._

* * *

And ever since she had rekindled her friendship with the others and apologized to them in the cave after they defeated Sharptooth, she had become great friends with the group, Raph especially. Though things had been rough between them for the first few days, the two had quickly formed a strong friendship, regardless of the fact that Raph and his brothers omnivores.

While the he and his brothers along with Littlefoot had made her quite frustrated, she could also somewhat see why they stood up for Chomper. The Turtles had gone through a sort of similar experience, plus they were also all part meat eater, so they could see where he was coming from.

However, what confused Cera the most was why Littlefoot had stood up for Chomper. Hadn't his mother died because of a sharp-tooth? So why was he so compassionate and kind with Chomper? If it was her father who had been killed by a sharp-tooth, she probably would have despised all sharp-teeth. But she knew Littlefoot had a much lighter judgement than her.

Still, even though Cera had actually grown a little fond of Chomper herself (which she wouldn't dare admit aloud until much, much later), she knew immediately that he couldn't stay here, as hard as it was for the Turtles and Littlefoot.

"I am tired." Ducky groaned, slumping over on Spike's tail as the group continued through the forest. "I am, I am."

"How are you tired?" Donnie asked in confusion. "Your being carried."

"We can't stop, Ducky." Littlefoot stated firmly. "Not until we find Chomper."

Petrie slowly glided down, landing on Spike's head, his wings sore as his breath came out in heavy whistles. "Maybe we stop." He panted as he flat on Spike's head. "Chomper find us."

"Oh, stop whining and keep looking." Cera gruffly told him.

"I thought you didn't care about Chomper." Ducky said as she and everyone else were quite surprised by Cera's sudden change in attitude.

The young three-horn responded by simply shooting her an irritated glare at the little swimmer. Ducky immediately shrunk back down, quickly dropping the subject as Cera turned away and the group continued on their search.

Spike walked over to a nearby bush regardless and began eating the leaves hungrily.

"My tummy is making it's hungry noise." Ducky moaned as she held her stomach.

"Oh, so hungry." Mikey groaned as he trudged by his brothers. He then pulled a slice of pepperoni pizza out of his belt. "Must eat pizza." he said hungrily as he began ravenously stuffing the pizza in his mouth.

Seeing that their brother was quite hungry, the other three turtles decided to stop as well as they pulled out some pocket pizzas from their belts and sat down on a few rocks and began to eat them.

While this was happening, Littlefoot had decided to go a little farther ahead the group. And after about a minute of walking through some thick bushes, the young long-neck emerged from the foliage and felt his feet step on rocky dirt as he arrived at the foot of the smoking mountain (or a volcano as Donnie would regularly call it).

From the top of the volcano, bits of burning ash rained down while red and black smoke emerged and floated into the sky as Littlefoot felt the ground shake slightly in a low rumble. The young long-neck stared at the volcano, squinting his eyes to see if he could get a better look at the smoking mountain. His eyes shifting to the top, Littlefoot was able to make out a small purple form near the top of the volcano.

"Leo, Cera, Raph, guys, come quick!" He shouted, his eyes widening in shock as he quickly recognized the form.

Hearing their friend's distressed voice, the others quickly emerged from the forest.

"What is it, Littlefoot?" Leo asked as he and the others were quickly at the young long-neck's side.

"It's Chomper!" Littlefoot replied, motioning to the top of the volcano. "He's on the Smoking Mountain!"

The others looked up to the top of the mountain as they quickly noticed the baby sharp-tooth running along the side of the volcano, chasing a small dragon fly across the edge.

More smoke began to pour out of the Smoking Mountain, making it quite clear that it was going to erupt at any moment.

"He could fall into the gurgling pit, he could." Ducky exclaimed.

"Worse than that, Ducky." Donnie replied worriedly. "It looks that volcano could erupt at any moment. If Chomper's caught in the eruption, he'll be a goner!"

"Chomper, come back!" Littlefoot shouted as loud as he could, now trying desperately to get Chomper's attention.

But unfortunately, Littlefoot cries to go unheard as Chomper didn't respond nor acknowledge the group below at all.

"I don't think he can hear me." Littlefoot said.

"Gee, ya think?" Raph told him sarcastically. "C'mon, we gotta get closer!"

* * *

Climbing up a small ledge, Ozzy and Strut quietly snuck up on a small nest of pteranodon eggs near the edge of a small ledge. The mother, nor the father, were anywhere in sight, which made this the perfect opportunity to steal an egg.

The two egg-stealers were even more pleased with their find as they saw that there were at least a dozen eggs or so in the nest.

"Ah, lunch is served." Ozzy said, smacking his lips as he bent down and reached for one of the eggs.

"Chomper!" A familiar young voice shouted, startling the egg-stealers. "Come back!"

As the two egg-stealers looked around frantically, Ozzy bumped into Strut, causing both of them to trip and slip off the edge. The two barely managed to grab onto the ledge with their clawed hands as they gripped the side of the ledge with their feet.

"We're coming, Chomper!" Another voice shouted, this one sounding older and deeper than the last one.

"Don't move, Chomper!" Yet another voice yelled, sounding a lot younger and more feminine.

"It's those kids and their shell-back friends again, Ozzy!" Strut exclaimed, looking down to where the voices were coming from.

Ozzy looked down below them and was surprised to see the dinosaur children and those four shell-back freaks from before making their way up the Smoking Mountain. They had survived?! How?! What happened to the sharp-tooth?!

"We're coming, Chomper!" The young three-horn shouted, snapping Ozzy out of his bewildered thoughts.

"Don't worry, Chomper!" The orange shell-back shouted.

"If they scream any louder they're going to give us away!" Ozzy grunted as he and Strut struggled to climb back up onto the edge.

It seemed too late for that as the two egg-stealers heard a loud angry shriek from above. They both looked up to see the mother of the nest had returned.

The mother pteranodon let out a screech of anger as she saw the two egg-stealers trying to get to her nest.

She then swooped down towards them as the two struthiomimus scrambled up the edge in a mass panic. They sprinted towards a small cave nearby as they avoided the mother pteranodon's swoops. The two egg-stealers practically threw themselves into the cave as the mother lunged for them again.

Once they were gone, the mother pteranodon flew back to her nest, sitting on the eggs protectively.

Seeing their opportunity for food slip through their fingers once again, Ozzy clenched his fists as an angry scowl came on his face.

"Those brats and their freaks have ruined our lunch for the last time!" He viciously swore.

* * *

The air was getting harder and harder to breath as the Turtles and kids as they searched the volcano for Chomper. They were surrounded on almost all sides by deep pools of boiling hot water and lava as thick smoke filled the air. On top of that, small chunks of burning rock began flying out of the top, giving more of an implication that the volcano was going to erupt soon. Nevertheless, the group pressed on.

They had lost sight of Chomper as they had gotten closer to the volcano, so now they were just wandering aimlessly around the base of the volcano.

"Chomper!" Littlefoot called. "Where are you?!"

"Chomper!" Mikey shouted. "Can you hear us?!"

"Don't you think he would answer?" Donnie asked deadpanned, but his voice was tense with worry.

The ground then suddenly began to shake as much thicker and darker smoke was beginning to emerge from the Smoking Mountain. Now it looked like the volcano was going to erupt at any moment.

Mikey gulped nervously. "Uh, who votes to go back and search the forest again?" He asked.

"Yes, we should go back. We should, we should." Ducky added.

However, when the Gang turned around, they nearly gasped in shock as they saw both Ozzy and Strut advancing on them.

"Leaving so soon?" Ozzy sneered. "But you haven't had your baths."

"You guys again?" Leo questioned in surprise.

"Me no need bath." Petrie fearfully protested. "Me take one just yesterday."

"We don't have time for this!" Raph scoffed, drawing his sais.

Cera then stepped forward in front of the group. "Don't worry, guys, I got this." Cera whispered to them before turning to the two egg-stealers. "You smelly old egg-stealers better watch it!" She told them. "Because it just so happens that we're friends with very mean sharp-tooth!"

"Sharp-teeth don't have friends!" Ozzy snapped, not believing her.

"They do to!" Littlefoot shot back.

"If a sharp-tooth is your friend, then prove it!" The older egg-stealer told them.

"But, Ozzy," Strut nervously spoke up, "we saw a sharp-tooth's shadow! That's good enough for me."

"Boy, you guys are dumb!" Mikey joked. "That 'scary' shadow wasn't a big sharp-tooth, it was just a baby!" He boasted.

"MIKEY!" The others snapped, causing the orange clad turtle to shrink down.

"Uh, I mean..." Mikey bit his lip as he realized he had said too much. Him and his big mouth.

"Times up, little ones!" Ozzy snarled as he and his brother moved in closer.

"Four turtles versus two complete morons?" Leo questioned as he and his brothers drew their weapons. "We got this." He smirked.

However, before any fighting could start, the ground shook even more than before as a loud explosion of fire, ash, and smoke seemed to shake the heavens itself. Everyone looked up to see the volcano had just now erupted as a huge river of lava began to flow down from the mountain.

Ozzy and Strut quickly forgot about the group as they frantically set out in a mad dash away from the mountain. The group, now fearing for their lives, quickly ran down the opposite path as the lava began to chase them, burning everything it touched.

As the group vaulted over a large log near the base of the volcano, Ducky fell off Spike's back and tumbled backwards before landing on her belly. Mikey looked back and saw the river of lava slowly advancing towards the little swimmer as she got up.

Acting fast, Mikey quickly rushed back and scooped up Ducky in his hands before sprinting after the others as the lava just nearly touched them.

The Gang kept running until they came to a ledge that jutted out near the base of the volcano with a large deep trench beneath it. And on the other side of the of the trench was a ledge completely parallel to it with an open plain leading straight into another forest. However, the gap was too far to jump across.

Littlefoot looked back, and his horror increased as he saw that the lava was drawing closer to them.

"C'mon, this way!" He shouted as the group continued down the path.

However, before the group could continue any further down the path, Ozzy and Strut jumped down from a ledge above them and blocked their path.

Littlefoot and others skidded to a sudden halt, quickly realizing that they were trapped again. However, they were not helpless as the Turtles quickly drew their weapons, ready to fight their way out.

"I've had it with you, you little sap suckers!" Ozzy shouted angrily.

Despite himself, Strut couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's comment. But then almost immediately, he felt something very sharp clamp down on his tail, sending a sharp pain through his body as he screamed in agony.

Surprised, everyone looked over to see Chomper biting down on Strut's tail.

"Chomper!" Littlefoot shouted happily as the Turtles smiled in relief.

The baby sharp-tooth quickly let go Strut's tail and leapt off of him before running to the others, who were cheering for his return. He then ran up to Littlefoot and hugged his neck, nuzzling his face against it as he chirped and cooed happily.

"Chomper, I'm so glad you came back!" Littlefoot smiled as he nuzzled Chomper back. The Turtles then bent down as they each patted Chomper on the back, happy that he was safe.

"That's it!" Ozzy roared. "No more fooling around!"

The Turtles quickly stood back up, standing in front of the kids as they got ready to fight off the two egg-stealers.

"You guys just don't give up, do ya?" Mikey quipped.

"Shut it you little whippersnapper!" Ozzy snapped, his anger growing.

Raph let out a cough. "Weak." He said. "You jokers even know who we are?"

"What are you babbling about?!"

"We're sure your both familiar with Sharptooth, the biggest and baddest of all the sharp-teeth. Or at least, he _was_." Donnie said slyly.

"Wait." Strut's eyes widened in realization. "Are you saying that...!"

"That's right." Leo confirmed. "WE'RE the ones who took down Sharptooth." He then pointed his katana threateningly at them. "Which means we'll do the same to you if you try and hurt our friends again!"

While four turtles and the two egg-stealers were in the middle of their standoff, Littlefoot began looking back and forth between what was happening in front of him and the lava that was slowly approaching them from behind. He looked over his shoulder again and noticed an old tree that was sticking out on the ledge. It was long enough that it could reach the other side, and it was just wide enough for them to walk across.

An idea quickly popped in his head as he darted towards the tree. Using all the strength and weight he could muster, he pushed the tree down. The other end of the tree landed on the opposite edge, the tree being just long enough to reach it.

"Quick! Across the tree!" Littlefoot ordered as he jumped onto the tree.

The Gang quickly rushed over to the makeshift bridge as the Turtles kept the two egg-stealers distracted.

"Chomper, you go first." The young long-neck told the little T-Rex. "The rest of you go next."

Chomper obeyed the apatosaurus and leapt onto the log before Ducky and Spike quickly followed him with Petrie flying above them. As they began to make their way across, the river of lava was slowly coming closer, with some of it pouring over the edge of the cliff and into the ravine below.

"Guys, hurry!" Cera screamed as she leapt off the log and onto the other ledge.

The Turtles looked back and noticed the lava ominously drawing ever closer to them.

"Looks like we'll have to cut this encounter short." Leo stated. "Mikey?"

Mikey smirked before pulling two smoke bombs out of his belt. "Booyakabunga!" He shouted as he threw them at the two egg-stealers, catching them off guard.

As Ozzy and Strut coughed up the purple smoke, they were unprepared when Donnie jumped through the mist, staff in hand, and bashed both of them to the side.

With that taken care off, the Turtles then turned back and jumped onto the log. Thanks to their ninja training, they were easily able to make their way to the other side, joining the kids.

Quickly getting up, Ozzy and Strut also noticed the lava and rushed over the fallen tree in what would seem to be an attempt to follow the Gang.

"I'm first! I'm always first!" Ozzy grunted firmly as he shoved Strut aside and jumped onto the log.

Ozzy then began to run across the log at a rapid speed. But at the same time, the hot lava had caused the fallen tree to catch on fire as the bark immediately burst into flames, tearing away at the wood.

Ozzy stopped in mid-run when he felt the log underneath him shake a little. He looked back, and with great horror, realized that the log had caught on fire. He then heard a loud creaking sound from the log, and he immediately realized his horrible mistake.

"Oh dear." He muttered before the log finally gave way, breaking in half and causing Ozzy to fall into the gorge below.

"Ozzy, wait for me!" Strut cried before stupidly jumping into the gorge after his brother.

The Gang backed away from the ledge and breathed sighs of relief.

"If this were a game," Cera heaved, "I'd never want to play it again."

"You said it." Mikey panted, sitting down in the grass.

"C'mon, guys." Raph said, catching his breath. "Let's head back."

The others all nodded as they all got up and headed away from the cliff. However, as they walked, they were caught off guard as they saw a large female yellowish brown brown T-Rex round the corner of a small hill, snarling viciously at them.

The group gasped as they took a few steps back. They turned around to run, but they soon saw another T-Rex, this one being a male and having dark green skin, standing behind them!

The male tyrannosaur roared as the group quickly found themselves sandwiched between two very angry adult T-Rexes.

"Oh great!" Donnie cried as the others practically shook with fear. "Two of them!"

As of right now, it didn't look like the group was out of danger yet.

**Finally! I am done with this chapter! I am so sorry it took this long to post this with all the power outages and school, so I hope you enjoyed this!**


	12. Turtle-Mech Time

Chapter 12: Turtle-Mech time

The male tyrannosaur roared loudly, like an unearthly scream from another world, causing the Gang to scream as they sprinted away from the T-Rex, with the male tyrannosaur quickly giving chase. However, they quickly found themselves cut off by the female T-Rex who stood in their path.

"RUN THROUGH IT'S LEGS!" Leonardo shouted.

The female T-Rex bent down with open jaws, but the group quickly ducked underneath them, causing the yellowish brownish tyrannosaur to crash into her mate while the Turtles and the kids ran as far away from them as they could.

"QUICK! INTO THE FOREST!" Raph yelled as the two tyrannosaurs quickly recovered and began chasing them again.

Too focused on running for their lives to argue, the group dashed into the forest as they ran for their very lives from their pursuers who were hot on their trail.

* * *

In the grazing fields of the Great Valley, Grandma and Grandpa Longneck were munching on some delicious leafs, enjoying the sweet taste of them before they heard a loud predatory roar that shattered the peaceful silence. They both turned sharply in the direction where it came from, their eyes wide with alert. As they listened closer, they realized that is wasn't just one, but two roars! And those types of roars were unmistakable.

"Sharp-teeth?!" Grandma Longneck gasped in horror. "In the Valley?!"

"We must warn the others!" Grandpa Longneck stated.

The two then quickly made their way across the Valley to find the other adults.

* * *

"GO! GO! GO!" Donnie screamed as the two adult tyrannosaurs chased the group through the forest. The Turtles, Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, and Chomper all ran as fast as their legs could carry them while Ducky clung tightly to Spike's neck and Petrie flew high above the reach of the monsters.

Their hearts pounding like crazy, their terror beyond extreme, the group made their way through the woods, pushing past thick bushes and low hanging vines, clawing their way past small tree branches.

The two T-Rexes roared in frustration and anger as they pursued the group, knocking down several trees in their way.

The group then rounded a large pile of rocks, dashing into some more thick bushes and seemingly loosing the tyrannosaurs. The two tyrannosaurs quickly brushed through the bushes, coming out into a small opening in the forest, roaring as intimidatingly as they could.

However, they were left astounded and confused as the four shell-backs and the five children had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

They looked around, sniffing the air a few times before they turned to each other, growling in what appeared to be some kind of language of their own before they both split up, taking different directions into the forest.

Unbeknownst to them, the second the two tyrannosaurs left, the Turtles and the kids crawled out of a large log that was lying around on the dirt ground. They were all panting heavily as they felt a great sense of relief now that the two sharp-teeth were gone.

"Okay, looks like their gone." Leo told them as he scanned the forest for the two T-Rexes.

"Is everyone okay?" Littlefoot asked in concern.

Too tired to speak, everyone else simply nodded in response. For the next few minutes, the group just listened fearfully as the thundering footsteps became quieter and quieter the further away they got.

As soon as they could no longer hear the footsteps, the group all breathed a sigh of relief.

"It dangerous out there." Petrie panted.

"I thought sharp-teeth couldn't get into the Valley." Cera sighed as she lay down on her stomach.

"How did they get in?" Ducky asked as she flopped against the young three-horn's side.

"I think... it's our fault." Littlefoot frowned, lowering his head.

"What do ya mean?" Mikey questioned. "What'd we do?"

"Well, we caused the rockslide that made a hole in the Great Wall when we were chasing those egg-stealers." Littlefoot explained. "So we pretty much just let them into the Valley."

The group was surprised before a pang of guilt swept through them as they cringed a bit.

"Yeah, but by the way they were chasing us, I don't think they were here for food." Raph stated, much to the others confusion.

"What do you mean?" Ducky asked.

"I'm saying that it didn't seem like they were trying to get us," Raph explained, "they were searching for something."

"But if they searching for something, then what is it?" Petrie questioned, confused as to where this was going.

"Well, that could be any number of things." Leo spoke up. "More food, a place to live, or-" He suddenly stopped in mid sentence as the realization suddenly came to him.

"Leo?" Littlefoot asked in concern. "Leo, what is it?"

"Guys... think I just figured out why their here." Leo stated.

The whole group stared at him for a moment. "Well c'mon!" Mikey said. "Don't leave us in the dark! What is it?"

Leo said nothing, and instead simply shifted his gaze towards Chomper, who gazed up at them innocently with eyes full of fright. And quickly, the realization hit the others as well as their eyes widened.

"Then... those are Chomper's parents!" Cera exclaimed in shock.

Mikey smiled brightly, "Chomper, your parents are here for you!" He said, picking up the baby sharp-tooth, who squeaked in excitement.

"Yeah," Donnie began, his voice anything but joyful, "and they could tear through the entire Great Valley searching for him, even if they mean well!"

"Well that is easy, we just give Chomper back to his parents and then they will leave." Ducky said.

"Well, what if their so mad that they just eat us anyway?" Littlefoot asked.

"Then we'll have to find a way to get Chomper back to his parents and get them out of the Valley without direct confrontation." Leo stated.

However, before they could discuss things any longer, the Gang heard another deafening roar pierce the air. And this time, it wasn't from a predator.

The group turned sharply to their left and were shocked and surprised to see Grandpa Longneck just a few yards away in the middle of a large lake. And to everyone's horror, especially Littlefoot's, the elderly long-neck was confronting the female sharp-tooth from earlier.

"Grandpa!" Littlefoot cried.

He then tried to sprint towards the fight, but Leo quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Littlefoot, wait!" He told him as the young long-neck thrashed around in his grasp.

"Let me go!" Littlefoot shouted as he struggled in Leo's grip. "He needs me!"

"We can't just rush in there!" Leo stated firmly. "We need a plan."

Donnie looked to his right, and to his surprise, he saw the Shell-Former just beyond a few bushes. The purple clad turtle smirked, a plan already forming in his head.

"Or maybe we just need something to level the playing field." Donnie said with his signature gap tooth grin.

The others looked towards the Shell-Former before Leo, Raph, and Mikey smiled, already knowing what the plan was, while the kids were slightly confused.

"Alright everyone, get to the ship." Leo ordered. "We've gotta help the adults."

"Wait, what happened to avoiding directly fighting them?" Cera questioned, confused.

"Change of plans." Leo simply replied.

Despite themselves, everyone smiled and nodded as they quickly rushed over to the Shell-Former, the door sliding open and allowing everyone to enter. Once inside, they immediately went to the cockpit where they each got into their own seats.

"Activate the Turtle-Bot 5000!" Donnie exclaimed as he and Mikey took the two front seats while Leo and Raph took the seats behind them and the kids took the seats in the back.

"Ooh! I wanna press the button!" Mikey quickly shouted, beating his purple clad brother to it as he slammed his palm on the button on the control panel that looked a robot turtle.

The kronite began to glow a bright shade of blue, fascinating the kids as the entire Shell-Former began to shake and rumble. Outside of the ship, giant robotic legs morphed out of the back of the ship, allowing the Shell-Former to stand in a tall, upright position.

As the Shell-Former stood up, a pair of large mechanical arms popped out from the sides. The Shell-Former, now the Turtle-Mech, stood up at full height at about the size of a fully grown T-Rex, with the mech itself looking like a giant robotic turtle.

* * *

The female sharp-tooth advanced on Grandpa Longneck, evading an attack from his tail which nearly hit her in the snout by ducking underneath it. The female tyrannosaur moved to attack, but the elderly long-neck swung his tail again, this time hitting her hard in the face and knocking her down into the water.

The female sharp-tooth growled angrily as she lifted herself up, and without warning, she charged forward and head-butted Grandpa Longneck with enough force to knock him down.

The female tyrannosaur stood over Grandpa, giving a roar of triumph as she bent down to bite on his neck and end him. But before she could do that, she felt something ram her in the side.

The force of the ram was so hard that it sent her tumbling across the water. She shook her head to clear her dizziness as she looked up and saw the fully functioning Turtle-Mech standing protectively in front of Grandpa.

From behind the Turtle-Mech, Grandpa Longneck gazed up at the giant mech with shock and awe. What was this thing that had just saved him? Why had it saved him? Was it going to fight the sharp-tooth?

Before he could say anything, the Turtle-Mech then turned it's head back to him, and the face seemed to fold back, revealing a transparent glass cockpit behind it.

To further Grandpa's shock, when he looked more closely, he could see that the Turtles and the children, Littlefoot included, were sitting in the cockpit.

"Children?!" Grandpa Longneck gasped. This didn't make any sense! We're they controlling this mechanical monstrosity?! What was happening?!

"It's alright, Grandpa!" Donnie said, speaking through a pair of loudspeakers on the side of the Turtle-Mech's head. "We'll take it from here!"

The Turtle-Mech's face then folded into what appeared to be a sort of battle mask with yellow bandana painted over it's eyes as it turned to face the female sharp-tooth, who had now only just recovered from the initial attack.

The female tyrannosaur glared at the giant mechanical turtle and gave an intimidating roar before she charged at the Turtle-Mech.

The Turtle-Mech pounded it's fist into palm, accepting the challenge as the female sharp-tooth charged towards it.

The tyrannosaur snapped it's jaws at the Turtle-Mech, trying to bite it's head of, but the large mech stepped out of the way and kneed her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

In retaliation, the female sharp-tooth snapped her jaws at the Turtle-Mech's face. The giant mech held one of it's arms in front in defense as the female tyrannosaur's jaws latched onto the Turtle-Mech's arm.

The female sharp-tooth then began to pull as hard as she could, trying to tear the mech's arm off. But the Turtle-Mech was prepared for this as it struggled back against the female tyrannosaur's strength. The Turtle-Mech then raised it's free fist before bringing it down hard on the female tyrannosaur's head, knocking the female tyrannosaur out.

"Yes! This is awesome!" Raph exclaimed eagerly inside the Turtle-Mech as Leo, Donnie, Mikey, and the dino kids cheered excitedly at their victory. However, it was short-lived as they heard another roar from behind them.

The Turtle-Mech turned around just in time to see the male tyrannosaur going into the lake and charging towards it, obviously enraged by the mech harming his mate.

The male sharp-tooth lunged at the Turtle-Mech, jaws wide open, but the giant mechanical turtle grabbed the tyrannosaur by the throat as the male sharp-tooth tried to bite at the Turtle-Mech's face.

Deciding to take the male tyrannosaur by surprise, the Turtle-Mech released it's grip from the male sharp-tooth's throat, wrapped it's arms around the tyrannosaur's body and rolled on it's back, throwing the male sharp-tooth out of the lake and tumbling onto the shore.

As the Turtle-Mech stomped out of the lake, the male sharp-tooth, as well as the female sharp-tooth, got up from where they were and roared angrily at the mechanical turtle.

Looking back and forth in between the two sharp-teeth, the Turtle-Mech took a stance as it got ready to take both of them on.

The two sharp-teeth both roared as they charged towards the Turtle-mech, jaws wide open.

The mechanical turtle grabbed the male sharp-tooth by the neck with it's left arm as the male tyrannosaur snapped viciously at it while the female sharp-tooth latched her teeth onto the Turtle-Mech'a right wrist.

Thinking fast, the Turtle-Mech used an incredible amount of strength as it lifted the female sharp-tooth of her feet and slammed her into her mate, knocking both of them down.

Getting up once again, the two sharp-teeth looked to each other, growling to each other as if they were trying to devise some kind of plan.

After what felt like a few minutes of the two growling at each other, the two sharp-teeth both charged forward, catching the Turtle-Mech by surprise as they both bit down on the mechanical turtle's arms.

They then began to pull, attempting to rip off both of the Turtle-Mech's arms as the mech struggled against their grip. Inside the cockpit, the Turtles and the kids were now starting to panic a bit as it seemed like they in quite the situation.

"We're losing power!" Donnie cried as he noticed the kronite's glow was becoming weaker and weaker.

Acting quickly, Leo pulled a few levers on his seat, causing the Turtle-Mech to stomp on the male sharp-tooth's foot.

The male tyrannosaur released the Turtle-Mech's right arm, letting out a roar of pain before the Turtle-Mech lifted it's fist and slammed the male sharp-tooth on the head, knocking him down.

Turning to the female sharp-tooth, the Turtle-Mech raised two of it's finger and jabbed them into the female tyrannosaur's nostrils.

The female sharp-tooth released her hold on the Turtle-Mech's arm and growled in pain as she shook her head from the sudden dizziness and pain.

Finally shaking off his dizziness, the female tyrannosaur stood up at full height with a menacing growl as her mate also got up and joined her.

"Alright! Round four, dudes!" Mikey cheered.

However, before they could get ready for another attack, there was a sudden ear-piercing sound of screeching metal, startling the group and causing them all to yelp in surprise.

Outside, the Turtle-Mech's suddenly began to transform back to it's default mod, causing it to fall back on it's treads.

"What is happening, Donnie?" Ducky asked fearfully.

"Systems are overheating!" Donnie cried, typing frantically on one of the keyboards before a fuse blew from inside one of the screens. "The whole ship's shutting down!"

"Aw, not now!" Raph exclaimed as he began frantically moving the joysticks on his seat, but to no avail.

Though confused by the sudden change of events, the two sharp-teeth roared as slowly approached, snarling and snapping their jaws as bits of saliva leaked from their mouths.

The group screamed and clung to each other, feeling that the end was upon them.

However, before the two sharp-teeth could start tearing apart the Shell-Former, they were knocked away by two large, powerful tails.

"Grandma, Grandpa!" Littlefoot cried out in joy as the group looked out the window of the cockpit.

"Leave our children alone!" Grandpa Longneck snarled as many of the other elderly dinosaurs came charging towards the two sharp-teeth.

Topps was the first to charge in as he rammed the male tyrannosaur, causing the male predator to fall on his back. Grandma and Grandpa then attacked again, this time swinging their tails at the female sharp-tooth, forcing her to the ground.

As if seeing that they couldn't win, the two sharp-teeth both roared in anger before running into the forest opposite of them. Everyone simultaneously erupted in a triumphant cheer as the back door to the Shell-Former slid open, letting the Gang out as they stepped out to their rescuers.

However, Chomper suddenly stopped short of the entrance to the Shell-Former a few paces. He gazed up at the group of adults as they lovingly nuzzled their children, and whimpered sadly. There was no one among them that looked like his family. And he came to sad realization that he just didn't belong here.

Remembering what Littlefoot said about sharp-teeth not being allowed in the Valley, he quietly snuck out of the Shell-Former without anyone noticing and ran off into the woods feeling lost and alone once again.

"Those sharp-teeth won't be showing their faces around here again." Topps stated.

"Got that right!" Mikey exclaimed. "Booyakasha!" He cheered, pumping his fist.

"But how did they get into the Valley in the first place?" Grandma Longneck asked curiously.

The Gang looked at each other slightly nervously. They all knew perfectly well that they were the ones responsible for the hole in the Great Wall, but goodness knows how the adults would react if they found out. They were already in enough trouble with their shenanigans as it was.

Still...

"Guys," Leo whispered to others, not taking his azure eyes off the adult, "we should come clean on this."

"What was that, Leonardo?" Grandpa Longneck asked, lowering his head to the group's level. "Something you would all like to share?"

The group looked to each again before letting out a chorus of sighs of defeat, knowing they were already caught.

"W-well, you see, last night we were up on Tall Peak when we saw two egg-nappers walking away from Ducky's nest. And we thought that they had stolen an egg from the nest." Littlefoot explained nervously.

"What?!" Ducky's mother exclaimed in shock.

"But when we got back in the morning, we found all the eggs were safe." Ducky quickly added. "Yep, yep, yep!"

While the statement was good news, the adults looked at them as they were still awaiting a further explanation.

"Anyways," Donnie continued sheepishly, "we ended up chasing the struthiomimus across the Valley before we ended up at the edge of the Mysterious Beyond."

"Yeah, and then there was this big rockslide that made this big hole in the wall." Cera concluded, lowering her head a bit.

"So that's how the sharp-teeth came through." Grandpa Longneck realized before turning to his fellow elders. "Come everyone, we must close the opening at once."

Without a moment of hesitation, the adults turned away and began to head towards the Great Wall.

"Wait, we want to help." Littlefoot said.

"No, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck gently ordered. "It's too dangerous. You and the other young ones must stay here."

The group looked down to the ground, feeling guilt and slight irritation tightening in their chests, as the adults walked away with each of them discussing how they close the wall.

"Well, I'm not going to stand around here and do nothing!" Cera stated, stomping her foot. "I'm going to help whether the grown-ups like it or not!"

Suddenly, Littlefoot jerked his head up and glanced frantically around as he noticed one of them was missing.

"Wait, where's Chomper?" He asked, concern and panic rising in his voice. "Has anyone seen him?"

"Chomper?" Raph called, looking around.

"Where did you go, Chomper?!" Ducky shouted, putting her hands on her mouth.

Petrie flew a little ways above the group and looked around for the little sharp-tooth. "Me no see him anywhere!" He reported as he surveyed the area.

"We gotta find him!" Mikey said, worried.

"Yeah! He's all alone out there!" Littlefoot added in equal worry.

Leo looked back and forth between the Great Wall and the forest. "Mikey, Littlefoot, you guys go find Chomper." He ordered. "The rest of us will help the adults."

The group nodded before Littlefoot and Mikey raced into the forest and Leo, Raph, Donnie, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike all sprinted towards the Great Wall.


	13. Reunion

Chapter 13: Reunion

The two adult sharp-teeth stomped through the forest, growling to each other once again in their own strange language. As they did, they failed to notice Chomper as he wandered through the bushes not far off from them.

Just then, Chomper was both surprised and slightly overjoyed when Mikey and Littlefoot suddenly came out of the bushes.

"Chomper!" Mikey exclaimed as he gently picked up the baby tyrannosaur. "Are we glad we found you!"

Chomper squeaked happily as he affectionately licked both of their faces.

"No biting, okay?" Littlefoot giggled, to which Chomper quickly nodded in agreement.

However, their little reunion was quite short-lived as they suddenly came face-to-face with the two adult sharp-teeth. "Quick! Run!" Mikey shouted before they sprinted in the opposite direction.

The two tyrannosaurs gave chase, knocking down several trees in their path like they were nothing as they pursued their prey.

Mikey and Littlefoot (who was still carrying Chomper), dashed up a small hill before attempting to cross a large fallen log. However, as they made their way across, they heard a small cracking noise on the log before part of the log underneath Littlefoot gave away, resulting in him falling into a small hole in the log.

Turning back, Mikey's eyes widened in horror as he saw Littlefoot fall into the hole. Not going to abandon their friend, Mikey and Chomper quickly rushed back over to help Littlefoot out, only for Chomper's parents to block their path.

"Mikey! Chomper! Get out of here!" Littlefoot shouted.

However, they did not get the chance to do so as the two tyrannosaurs surrounded them. The two sharp-tooth growled viciously at them as whipped out his nunchucks, ready to defend himself and his friends.

Chomper then suddenly let out a loud squeak, followed by few short high-pitched growls. The two tyrannosaur growled back... but then they stopped, as they if they had come to a sudden realization.

The male sharp-tooth bent down to Chomper's level, letting out a small growl. The baby sharp-tooth then let out another squeak in reply. Mikey, getting the idea that they were communicating, gently picked Chomper up and held him in front of his parents.

"Look!" Mikey exclaimed, getting the two tyrannosaurs' attention. "It's Chomper! Your baby!"

"Mikey, what are you doing?" Littlefoot questioned as he tried to pull his leg out from the log.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Mikey whispered. He then looked back to Chomper's parents who leaned in closer to him. "You want him, you got him."

The tyrannosaurs stared at him in silence before the female sharp-tooth bent forward and licked Chomper. Squeaking happily, the baby sharp-tooth leapt out of Mikey's arms onto the female tyrannosaur's nose.

The female sharp-tooth raised her head and turned towards her mate, allowing him to get a full view of Chomper. Then, in a sudden act of affection, the two touched their snouts together as the little hatchling happily nuzzled both of them.

Then, as if forgetting about the mutant turtle and the young apatosaurus, the two tyrannosaurs began to walk away with Chomper happily cooing and chirping as they carried him.

"He found his family." Littlefoot smiled.

"Yeah." Mikey said softly. "He's back where he belongs."

After watching the family of sharp-teeth fade into the forest, Mikey began to help Littlefoot pull himself out of the log. It took a few minutes and a few strong tugs before Littlefoot's leg finally came loose.

"Looks like their headed back to the Great Wall." Littlefoot said as Mikey helped him climb out of the log.

"Sure looks like it." Mikey shrugged as the two jumped down from the log and began to walk back the way they came. "I'm glad Chomper's back with his family."

However, as they walked, Ozzy and Strut suddenly jumped out of the bushes in front of them. Littlefoot yelped and stepped back while Mikey quickly whipped out his nunchucks.

"We've had it with you kids!" Ozzy growled. "We're getting rid of you once and for all!"

"You gotta catch us first!" Mikey shot back before he charged forward and batted the two of them away before he and Littlefoot took off. Quickly getting back up, Ozzy and Strut were quick to race after them.

"Mikey," the young long-neck panted, "we've gotta warn the others!"

"Got it!" Mikey exclaimed as he quickly pulled out his T-Phone and typed in quick message.

However, as soon as Mikey sent the message, the two egg-stealers leapt up and tackled them to the ground. They shouted and struggled, trying desperately to get free from Ozzy and Strut's grip.

"Let us go!" Mikey shouted as he struggled in Ozzy's grip. He couldn't believe he had been caught this easily! By two egg-stealers who were possibly dumber than he was! Some ninja.

"Shut it, brat!" Ozzy snapped.

Ozzy then harshly cupped a hand over the orange clad turtle's mouth to prevent him from screaming while he wrapped his other arm tightly around the young turtle's waist, pinning his arms to his side.

Meanwhile, Strut had managed to wrestle Littlefoot to the ground, gripping his neck and clamping his mouth shut. Littlefoot didn't dare move as he felt Strut's grip on his neck tighten, threatening to snap it.

Mikey kicked and struggled as hard as he could, but it did no good as Ozzy's grip was surprisingly strong.

They were trapped!

"Hey, Ozzy," Strut spoke up with an almost eerie eagerness, "can we throw them off the Great Wall? Can we please?"

Ozzy looked down at Mikey and Littlefoot, who were gazing fearfully at each other as they listened. "Why, yes." Ozzy replied, grinning maliciously.

With that said, Mikey and Littlefoot soon found themselves being dragged up towards the Great Wall. They kicked, they squirmed, they tried to scream for someone, anyone, to help. But it sadly all in vain.

However, unbeknownst to the two egg-stealers, Mikey's T-Phone (which had been dropped when he and Littlefoot were captured) had successfully sent the message he had been trying to send.

* * *

Meanwhile at the far end of the Great Wall, Leo, Raph, and the other kids had gone to the gaping hole in the Great Wall.

"Is there anything we can do about?" Ducky asked.

"Not unless we had a ton of rocks and superhuman strength to seal this up." Donnie replied.

"Well, we know where the hole in the wall is, so why don't we just let the adults know and let them take care of it?" Cera questioned.

"Alright, then let's go back and find the adults." Leo stated. "At least before anything else comes through there."

However, just when they were about to head out, Raph's T-Phone suddenly began ringing. Pulling out his T-Phone, the red clad turtle noticed a small text box on the screen, indicating who it was from.

"It's from Mikey!" Raph exclaimed, pulling up the full message. "'Being chased by egg-nappers, help!'." He read.

The others gave an audible gasp as they turned back to where they had left Mikey and Littlefoot in the forest near the lake.

"Mikey and Littlefoot are in trouble!" Petrie exclaimed.

* * *

Chomper and his parents approached the opening they had used to enter the Great Valley. A seemingly new feeling of happiness had spread through the small family of sharp-teeth as the parents watched their son trot along between them.

However, their joy was interrupted when they heard a loud terrified shriek from above them. Chomper immediately stopped as he turned and looked up to where the shriek had come from, and his eyes widened in horror.

Letting out a panicked squeak, the little tyrannosaur quickly scampered up the slope of the Great Wall with utterly confused parents following behind.

* * *

"Let us go or you'll be sorry!" Littlefoot cried, wrestling to get out of Strut's grip as the two struthiomimus dragged him and Mikey towards the edge of the cliff before dangling perilously at the edge. The cliff was pretty high up, meaning at that height, if the egg-stealers were to drop them, Mikey and Littlefoot would definitely break some bones the moment they hit the ground.

"Sorry we didn't do this sooner!" Ozzy snapped as he held Mikey up by the wrist while Strut held Littlefoot by the tail. "Say bye-bye, pests!"

However, before the two egg-stealers could react, they were bashed aside with a loud 'thwack' which was followed by the sound of wood colliding with flesh, causing them to drop the turtle and the long-neck. Now freed from their captors, Mikey and Littlefoot both screamed loudly as they fell.

But before they could even hit the ground, a two solid bulks collided into them from the right as they fell. The two barely had any time to register what was happening as they were suddenly flung back onto the cliff. As they landed back on top of the cliff, they found themselves held closely to their saviors' chests as they tumbled across the rocky ground.

As they finally rolled to a stop, Mikey and Littlefoot tried to blink away the stars that danced across their vision. The terrifying fall, combined with something suddenly ram into them and heave them back up onto the cliff had made them incredibly dizzy, so much so that Littlefoot had to fight back the urge to puke.

Glancing at their saviors, Mikey and Littlefoot's eyes both widened as they both let out a gasp. Right next to them were Leonardo and Raphael, their arms were wrapped securely around the young turtle and long-neck, holding them so closely to their chests that it almost hurt.

The orange clad turtle and the young long-neck both blinked rapidly in surprise. When had they gotten here? In fact, how did they even know where they were or that they were in trouble?

"Raph?! Leo?!" Littlefoot cried, being the first to find his voice.

After hearing their young friend's voice, Leo and Raph finally cracked their eyes open.

"Mikey! Littlefoot!" Leo cried as he and Raph sat up, grabbing Mikey and Littlefoot pulling them into a quick hug.

"Don't scare us like that, guys!" Raph exclaimed. "We thought we were gonna lose you for a second!"

"Are you guys okay?!" Leo questioned, looking Littlefoot over for any injuries. "Did those creeps do anything to you?!" He probed once he and Raph released the two of them, their tones of voices so worried that it nearly scared both Mikey and Littlefoot.

In attempt to appease their panic-stricken friends, Mikey grinned reassuringly and put a gentle hand on Raph's shoulder. "Relax, bros, we're fine." He said calmly. "Thanks to you guys anyway!"

Just as Leo and Raph were starting to calm down, they were interrupted when they heard the sound of flesh colliding with flesh, and they turned to see Ozzy cry out as he was kicked in the chest by Donnie, knocking him into Strut. Once the two egg-stealers were down, Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Petrie immediately came in and began trampling and jabbing at the two struthiomimus.

Littlefoot gasped as he watched his friends beat down the egg-stealers. So they had _all _come for him and Mikey? They were risking their own lives to save his, knowing they were up against two egg-stealers?

Wow. He really _did _have the best friends ever.

However, as the kids continued to trample the two egg-stealers, Ozzy let out a low growl before he roughly shoved the kids off of him and Strut.

"I will not be foiled by a bunch of children and freaks again!" He stated angrily as the Turtles drew their weapons, ready to fight.

At that moment, there was a loud gravely roar. Strut yelped and jumped in fear as he saw a large T-Rex statue on the cliff-side behind him and Ozzy.

"It's... It's..." Strut stuttered, terrified out of his mind.

"Oh, c'mon." Ozzy grunted, rolling his eyes in irritation before he pointed towards the shadow's source. "Are you seriously falling for that shadow bit again? Look more closely."

Everyone turned to where Ozzy was pointing and saw the source of the shadow.

"Chomper!" The Gang cried.

The baby tyrannosaur was standing on a small rock just a few feet away from the group. He then tried to roar like an adult T-Rex as he glared at the Ozzy and Strut, but it only came out as a scratchy one.

"Chomper, run!" Cera shouted, worried for the little sharp-tooth.

But before Chomper could react, the struthiomimus sprinted over and grabbed the little T-Rex by the neck. The sharp-tooth hatchling struggled and kicked as Strut walked back over to the group.

"You," Ozzy spat, glaring at Chomper, "I liked you better as an egg!"

The group was about to move to free the baby T-Rex when Ozzy held him up by the throat. "One step closer and you can kiss your little friend goodbye." He warned, holding a talon to Chomper's throat.

The group stopped as they knew they couldn't risk Chomper's life. But then, out of the corner of their ears, the group just barely heard the rapid sounds of booming footsteps coming towards them, the stomps getting louder and louder.

"I'd let him go if I were you." Donnie stated.

"Really? And just what are any of you going to do about it?" Ozzy questioned in a mocking tone.

However, Ozzy would soon find himself taking back those words as two loud roars were immediately heard as the male tyrannosaur jumped up below them.

Ozzy and Strut screamed in terror, letting go of Chomper as they sprinted away from the edge while the Turtles and the kids just barely managed to scramble away from the edge of the cliff as the male sharp-tooth's jaws snapped down on the ledge, breaking a large chunk of it off. A little ways down, Chomper's Mother jumped and attempted to grab the two egg-stealers in her jaws, but just barely missing as she bit a huge chuck out of the cliff-side.

In full panic, Ozzy and Strut ran down the incline as the two T-Rex parents chased after them, disappearing over a hill leading out of the Great Valley.

The group slid down the slope and watched as the Chomper's parents chased Ozzy and Strut out of the Great Valley. After seeing that they were gone, the group was finally allowed to catch their breath.

"You guys alright?" Littlefoot asked.

"We are fine, Littlefoot. We are, we are." Ducky replied.

"Me just glad Chomper's parents are gone." Petrie said.

"C'mon, guys." Mikey stated, being the first one to compose himself. "Let's go."

The group then began to walk towards the opening, about to follow the two sharp-teeth when they suddenly heard a series of voices behind them.

"Hurry!"

The opening! We must close it!"

Looking back, the group saw the adults at the bottom of the hill, heading up to the Great Wall to seal up the hole.

"C'mon, Chomper!" Littlefoot exclaimed as the group began to head up the hill towards the gap in the Great Wall. "You have to catch up with your mom and dad!"

For a brief moment, the little sharp-tooth looked back and forth between the gap in the wall and the Valley behind him. He whimpered in confusion and sadness as the thought and idea of leaving the Valley and his friends suddenly struck him.

"They're going to close up the opening, Chomper!" Leo exclaimed, picking up the baby T-Rex in his arms. "You have to go now!"

The group ran up to the top of the hill before coming to a stop at the gap. Leo then gently placed Chomper on the ground before Littlefoot gently nudged him to go after his family. A surge of pain and sadness went through the group as Chomper turned back to them, whimpering as he gazed up at them with tearful eyes.

"We can't take care of you anymore, Chomper." Leo said sadly.

"You belong with your parents, Chomper." Donnie added just as sadly.

"It's not that we don't like you, we like you a lot." Raph solemnly tried to explain, but quickly losing his voice. "It's just... we gotta let you go."

"Yeah, we're just a bunch of kids." Mikey added, trying to hold back tears. "We're not old enough or responsible enough to take care of you."

"But we'll always remember you, Chomper." Cera stated, also trying to hold back tears.

"Sharp-tooth or not, you will always be our friend." Ducky tearfully said, giving Chomper one last hug and Spike giving a sad grunt in agreement.

"Petrie will remember you to." Petrie also added, joining in on the hug.

Chomper squeaked softly as the group gathered him up in a large group hug. Releasing from the group hug, Littlefoot bent down and lovingly nuzzled Chomper, who immediately nuzzled back.

"I know." Littlefoot gently acknowledged. "We'll miss you too. But... maybe we'll meet again someday." He then lightly nudged Chomper once again to go after his parents.

With one last glance at his friends, Chomper gave one last squeak before he ran down the hill after his parents.

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and even Mikey finally let their dams break as tears streamed down their cheeks while Leo, Raph, and Donnie let a few stray tears fall, watching sadly as the little sharp-tooth they had come to love and care for ran off into the distance.

* * *

Many hours later, the adults had come to a large series of rocks and boulders sitting high on the cliff-side above the gap in the Great Wall.

"Are you all sure you saw the sharp-teeth leave?" Grandpa Longneck questioned, bending down to the group's level.

"Yes, Grandpa." Littlefoot replied, his voice somewhat solemn. "Their back in the Mysterious Beyond."

"You all disobeyed us today." The elderly long-neck acknowledged.

The Gang looked a bit sheepish at that as they scratched the back of their heads. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that." Donnie apologized. "We were just trying to make up for our mistakes."

"Oh, there is nothing to apologize for, Donatello." Grandpa Longneck stated kindly. "I know that you all wanted to make things right again, and I am glad that you did." He then turned to other parents as they inspected the boulders. "I also know that someday you will understand why your parents worry about you so much."

"I think we already do understand, Grandpa." Cera spoke up, with the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

Grandpa Longneck simply nodded. "Good." He said. "That means you will all remain together and with the herd when there is danger."

Seeing a small dead tree off to the side, Littlefoot decided he would try to push it down. Walking over to it, he placed his forepaws on the side of the dead tree, put all of his weight into his push, and finally pushed it over.

Grandpa Longneck smiled proudly as the group came over and congratulated him on doing it.

"Alright, everyone!" The elderly long-neck called, turning towards the other adults. "Get ready!"

The adults nodded as they each got behind a pile of rocks, waiting for the signal to push them.

"Push!"

The adults then pushed forward, gathering all of their strength as they heaved the rocks over the cliff, gathering them up in a large pile. However, the wall still not big enough as they still needed more rocks.

Seeing a large unstable cliff-side above the pile of rocks, Leo turned to Donnie and Mikey, giving them a nod. Donnie and Mikey grinned before they gathered several kunai and shurikins before throwing them at a weak spot in the cliff-side, causing several more rocks to tumble down to form the new wall.

Everyone cheered in joy as the new wall was formed.

"There." Raph stated. "Now those sharp-teeth won't be getting back in here anytime soon!"

* * *

Later on that evening, the group was running through the Valley, dashing along the edge of the lake, laughing heavily as they were playing a game of tag with Ducky as the chaser.

"Ducky! Spike!" Ducky's Mother called out, causing to group to pause in their merry little game.

"It's time to go home, Spike! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky giggled as she and her adopted brother ran towards their mother's nest.

"Petrie!" The group looked up to see Petrie's Mother flying overhead.

"Me coming, Mama!" Petrie called as he flew up into the air and followed his mother back to their nest.

"Cera!" The remaining group heard Topp's call from a distance.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Cera said, fist bumping with Raph running off to join her father.

With everyone else gone, Littlefoot and the Turtles headed over to Littlefoot's Grandparents, who were settled down by the lake near where the Shell-Former now was.

"Are you hungry, Littlefoot?" Grandma Longneck asked her grandson almost playfully while the Turtles opened the back of the Shell-Former to get some pizza.

Littlefoot eagerly nodded. "Grandma, Grandpa," He spoke up, "I've changed my mind about something."

"What's that, Littlefoot?" Grandpa Longneck asked as the Turtles came out of the Shell-Former, carrying a few boxes of steaming hot pizzas.

"Well... I've decided that I really like being a kid." Littlefoot replied. "And I still can't wait to grow up."

"That's the spirit." Leo said, giving Littlefoot a pat on the back as Raph, Donnie, and Mikey dug into their pizza. "You should enjoy your youth while it lasts. Life is short, but precious."

Littlefoot's Grandparents nodded in agreement before they all sat down, eating their delicious dinners as the sun set over the horizon.

_To be continued..._

**Well, that was the second installment of my TMNT/Land Before Time series! Hope you all enjoyed it and I will be posting the third story as soon as I update some of my other stories so stay tuned!**


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